Where lightning strikes once ninja strikes twice
by Zilcho
Summary: Mizuki's revelation results in a different set of events and Naruto ends up in Kumo. Non Akatsuki centric fic where Naruto will find himself caught up in the 4th shinobi war.
1. Chapter 1

Main inspiration for this fanfic is Shezza's **Life in Konoha's ANBU** which I highly recommend as it depicts a much more realistic universe in many ways.

Read note at the end for description of what I'm aiming for with this fanfic.

* * *

Two men were standing in a small room deep underground, it was made of plain concrete and a small lamp gave off a sickly yellowish light. Towards the wall across the metal door there was a medical bed, a drip, some sort of monitor and a tray with assorted equipment used by doctors.

"Is this the jinchuuriki?"

"Affirmative Raikage-sama"

"Hmmf, a little too scrawny. Are you certain that's correct?"

"Hai, I wouldn't say so if it was otherwise. He was found exhausted and severely hurt. His clothes was bloodied and torn but no cuts on him, just badly burnt but he is condition is stable and he is in no danger and will recover once his body has rested. He is kept sedated and on IV for the moment but will soon be ready to be waned off and woken.

"Good, when he wakes up I send for me immediately."

Without waiting for confirmation the bulky raikage turned and walked out, the guards outside closed the door behind him.

"Go get my idiot brother, I want him to find out which bijuu he holds and find Yugito I want her on high alert outside the hospital.

He steamed through the village, over rooftops and through canyons and over the mountain peeks. He ran up the side and burst through his own window landing behind his desk. Soon after an exasperated Mabui came inside the door.

"Raikage-sama please stop destroying your own tower! The costs and amount of work it causes are too high and completely unnecessary."

"It's my village and I do as I please! Now place the sector around the primary hospital on a level 4 alert and the rest of the village on a level 3, we got an unknown jinchuuriki inside our village currently unconscious." The raikage had a displeased and slightly angered look but to those used to him that was usually the face he wore. As he talked he moved to a set of heavy weights to start pump his arms.

He grunted with exertion and Mabui turned to carry out her orders. "And get someone from Kanji division to take a look at the seal, I need details!"

Mabui walked away towards some of the the many desks and offices scattered throughout the many rooms to give orders to the assistants and couriers working there.

A yell broke the relative peace in the building. "And I want constant updates if anything changes!" Subtlety was something the Raikage didn't like to bother with.

* * *

There was voices surrounding him, that was the first thing he noticed but he couldn't make out what they were saying. He had trouble coming to his senses, his eyes were stuck together and his throat parched. The first thing he got his bearings on was the smell, it was slightly damp reminding of a cellar with tinges and disinfectants and other nasties generally associated with a hospital or clinic. Then feeling of his body started to return to him, he was restrained and sore and after that came memories. Of a wild flight running like his life was in danger and of burning pain, and then. He started to remember, how Mizuki had tricked him, told him of his fate as a monster and then attacked him. How a frozen Iruka watch the first shurikens hit him before a fuma shuriken hit him in the chest. How pain raced through his body as the multiply tools of death cut in to soft flesh but worst the fear and anger as Iruka fell clutching his own bleeding wound, after that it was just a blur of anger and pain. He groaned and tried to move but his arms and legs burned against the restraints.

"He is coming to" a soft voice said.

A much coarser voice, " About damned time."

He could make out what they said, there was a few steps and noises as someone grabbed something. He felt the cold sensation of a wet cloth carefully against his eyelids.

"There, now you should be able to open your eyes."

He tried to comply and was glad that the light was so low that it was but it was still a little blurry. He tried to speak to the man next to him, " where am I?" Was what he tried to say but it came out a lot raspier than usual and then he started to cough.

"Have some water, you have been out for a while, it will make it easier."

He complied as the man raised him a little and placed a small mug to his dry lips allowing him to drink some of the wonderful life giving substance called water.

He tried again to speak this time it came out far smoother.

"Where am I?

"You are currently in a secure facility under the Kumogakure hospital, my name is Yushiro." The now obvious medic said.

Naruto's heart hitch and he could feel himself starting to sweat, he might not have been the sharpest kunai but even he knew that Kumogakure was generally an enemy to konoha.

"I'm not a patient man and you are in MY village, who sent you and where are you from!"

Naruto turned towards the man speaking. He gulped as a large man with blond, almost white, hair stood at the feet of the bed with his arms crossed, bare chest and a white robe slung around him.

He hesitated.

"I'm from Konoha." It came out a lot lower and weaker than he had meant it to be.

He paused trying to gather himself.

"No one sent me, I was running."

The raikage only gave a dissatisfied grunt and left, barely stopping to turn his head.

"What's your name boy?"

"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."

And then he left.

"Don't worry okay, I'll make sure that you will heal just fine and I'm sure things will work out for the better." Yushiro said.

He just gave a weak nod.

"I'll be giving you a sedative and some painkillers for you to be able to sleep, once you are rested and wake up I'll make sure you'll get some food, okay."

Naruto didn't respond as the medic prepared to syringes which he carefully injected into the IV and it wasn't long before darkness once more took Naruto.

Outside walking out from the hospital, or rather jogging, the raikage gave orders to his guards.

"Once he has regained some strength I want C to interrogate him and I want my lazy brother here now to tell me which bijju he contains!"

* * *

It was late but Kumo's kage was still up, he stood facing the great windows looking out over the countless peaks and buildings. Lightning flashed every now and then not far away, it was calming watching it strike, quick, powerful and possibly deadly. Just how a ninja should be. But as the saying goes, where lightning strikes once, a ninja strikes twice. It was a coming topic of debate in the bars down below. Some argued it meant that Kumo only needed one strike to put someone down, others that it meant that no matter how good a ninja you was mother nature would always have the upper hand. There were those that said it meant that ninja just was faster and better skilled. Many a fist fight had broken out over this deep philosophic question.

As he stood there soothing his mind he kept one hand busy pumping his weight, the other still held the report from Kanji division on the jinchuuriki's seal.

The report was good news for the boy, at least for now and bad for him as it put him with multiple choices. The seal was solid, leagues more complicated than anything Kanji had developed. It was an eight trigrams seal with many smaller additions and possible features interwoven containing distinct Uzumaki designs. It was a magnificent work of art and he no longer held any doubt of who had created it and what it held back but he still wanted confirmation.

It wasn't as Kumo was completely in the dark about Uzumaki business, they considered them self the premier source of knowledge pertaining to the sage of the six paths and knew where the Uzumaki heritage stemmed from. They knew a lot of basic Uzumaki sealing but they lacked the flair and insight that Uzugakure had held as they had almost desperately searched for their immense knowledge on the subject once they had fallen.

There was some commotion outside his office and as a large man the same size as the kage broke inside his office he threw his weight at him with blinding speed but the man was surprisingly nimble and dodged instead the weight severely dented the wall, eliciting a yelp from Mabui sitting outside as plaster fell to the floor. Another man, identified as C, one of the kage's closest men strolled inside not even bothering to raise his eyebrows at the action.

"Yo bro it ain't nice to throw stuff at folks."

"Bee.. just tell me which one he holds before I throw you out from the window! I wanted you here three days ago!" He crumpled the paper he held in his as he raised his fist threateningly.

"Yo yo yo it's all mighty fine and what you got there got to be number nine! Fool!" Bee, or better known as Killer B rapped out, poorly, and crossed his arm and struck a pose.

"Sir if I may?" C spoke up to defuse the situation before his volatile kage did a lariat on his younger brother and destroyed the office, or building, which would just increase Mabui's workload.

"Go ahead" was gruffed out.

C straightened and went in to report mode.

"After initially being suspicious and hesitating the boy Naruto and jinchuuriki of the kyuubi quickly opened up to us. A detailed psych profile has been prepared for you to read at your leisure but a quick summary would be that he is attentioned starved and restless, generally act or speaks before thinking which seems to stem from either neglect or scorn."

"He holds few loyalties and seems to value those few close to him more than his village, the only people of note seems to be the Sandaime which he refers to in familial terms and a teacher from his academy which from his account seems to have died on the night of his departure. From what we gathered he hold little to know information of any value except his relation with his kage and even there…."

Inside the raikage's head gears was turning on how to dealt with this situation. As C went on with his report an outline of a plan became more and more apparent to him.

* * *

Naruto was nervous, no scratch that he was scared shitless. It had been a few days since he had first woken up. He quickly felt a lot better and got started on solids. He had been told that his injuries had come from a mixture of cuts and the corrosive effects of uncontrolled bijju chakra.

He had been thoroughly interrogated which had been a lot less painful than his imaginative mind had thought it should be. But here he was, being led to the leader of a foreign village and one of the strongest men in the world and a man that had a short fuse and prone to anger. Naruto wasn't generally the most perceptive of people but even he could see from their short interactions that the raikage was easy to anger.

He had never ventured above ground, he was frightened and afraid of what would happen to him but he couldn't suppress his curiosity of what this foreign village looked like. First he was led down through corridors and sewer like structures which he had gotten a short answer that they were actually storm drains and then it just went up and up.

In the silence that surrounded him and his guards he conjured a multitude of scenarios in which most resulted in a gruesome and painful death either for being a spy or a monster because they had been awfully interested in the burden he carried and called him a jinchuuriki, but he held few answers for them because not even a week ago he hadn't been aware of what was sealed inside of him.

It felt like an eternity but at the same time it was all too soon damp most tunnels had changed to that of the more normal interiors of an office building and most definitely too soon he once again had to face the most imposing man he had ever met.

"Boy do you know who I am?"

He swallowed and gave a court nod.

"Speak up! Do you know who I am!?" 'Shit' Naruto thought. 'I haven't said anything and he is already angry.'

"Hai" "Raikage-sama" He quickly added.

A grunt of what seemed to be approval.

"I have thought about what to do with you and I suggest you listen carefully. I'm going to make you an offer and consider it carefully what it entails."

Panik permeated him, he had been given an order and in two short sentences he was already lost, entails!? He didn't even know what it meant but didn't dare to ask.

"If you refuse my offer you will either have to be locked away or ransomed to Konoha where you most likely be handled as a common traitor, do you understand?" He smirked to himself, a little fear was always useful to instill in people.

Naruto's mind was racing with pictures of all the people that had mistreated him celebrating him being executed or imprisoned.

"I'm giving you a chance for life, a place to belong and a place to call home and people to call comrades and friends. You will be given a chance to prove yourself that can become a Kumo ninja, my ninja. If you can pass a few months training and live up to our standards."

He was stupefied. He wasn't going to be tortured but he would be a ninja, he would have friends!? Completely ignoring the ifs and buts that he actually had to fulfill.

A, the raikage didn't show the smile that threatened to grace his lips at the shock and joy the young boy showed for his offer. This was all too easy and now for the deathblow.

"I'm also told that you are an orphan, unwanted and neglected."

Anger and sadness.

"But I can fix that."

Curiosity.

"I know a lot of your heritage."

Hope

"Become a genin in three months and I will tell you who you mother where."

Suprise. Joy.

"And become a chuunin, loyal and respected ninja and I'll tell you who your father was."

Bliss.

The magnificent view of the village and surrounding mountains that the room in which he stood provided completely ignored.

* * *

I'm using this map here by xShadowRebirthx as my guideline of the elemental nations and surroundings: art/Elemental-Nations-Geographical-Map-317422439

I suggest that you take a quick look at the scale of the world especially as I feel that it is something that many people tend to make a lot of mistakes with.

But in short it makes the map on naruto wikia out to be roughly from western France to eastern Austria wide and northern Denmark to southern Germany high. For the Americans out there that is something like western California to eastern Wyoming wide and northern California up to the Canadian border high.

Criticism is appreciated to help me work out chinks in my writing as well as correcting mistakes when it comes to usage of Japanese.

I've got an outline of the plot and I aim to make it believable. But it isn't set in stone to accompany changes but to avoid contradictions or lack of direction. I hope to portrait a wide array of characters, something of the hardest thing to do, that are believable in their motivations and acting.

My take on fights will come from what I enjoy to read and I generally prefer plots and character development/interactions and I dislike drawn out fights. Multiple fights and skirmishes that together can be classified as a battle will take place and the best illustration of what I mean is there wont be single chapters dedicated to something as a single fight in a chuunin exam but an event like the chuunin invasion could span multiple chapters.

Naruto will be smarter/better than in the original manga/anime but dislike modding and super power ups. No character knows everything, is all mighty and can be everywhere.

When it comes to politics and military matters I want to create a realistic world of a feudal society and the best way to describe things would be to consider how politics works in the games Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings. Europa Universalis for nation level events and internal nobel affairs is best illustrated by crusader kings but I don't intend to delve in to this but just a consideration of the how the machinations of this world will work. If this aspect interests you check out the EU3 or EU4 and CRK2 AAR ( after action report) forums for a lot of great reads.

And finally I get to give something back to this community that has provided me during the last two years with over 20 millions words worth of reading. It's hard to give an exact estimate but it's way more than everything I've read before not counting rereads. HP is approximately 1.2 million words total and WoT 4.4. Just to give you a scale of the different works here on Naruto fanfic. Enjoy. ;)


	2. Chapter 2

A little long but i managed to get everything I wanted in.

* * *

It had been a rough week for a lot of people in Konoha but the one that had taken the brunt of it was it's Hokage, the sandaime Sarutobi Hiruzen. There was no news about the young bright boy that carried the heaviest of burdens and a lot of people wanted answers, himself so. He had ordered more teams than ever before to join the search and was running them ragged but the only thing he got to show for it was more meaningless papers to go through.

He had postponed the new genin teams assignment because of the jounins that had joined the search and also because the current class's teachers were preoccupied, the assistant was torn to shreds and the other was still in ICU and had yet to wake.

He had failed to give the boy the life he had deserved and the village he prided himself of being the most humane was the main cause of the boys suffering. Smoke surrounded him as he drew deep on this pipe, the smoke lazingly rising and dispersing. His advisors had been a constant thorn these past days and at times he felt as they weren't there to advise but to constantly work against him instead and if that wasn't enough he had confirmation that his last remaining student was heading back and that was one conversation he could do without.

"I hope I can still live to have chance to make things right." He sighed to himself and took another breath from his pipe. "I just hoped we haven't driven you to turn traitor as so many before.

* * *

Naruto had been given some precious time to himself. J which was training him had to report to who knows where and told Naruto that as long as he kept up his cardio he could explore the village and further familiarise himself with his new home. He had to report to the academy later but until then he was free and he was exalted. Brimming with energy he had been determined to explore the village in all directions.

It was so very different than Konoha. For starters there was much fewer civilians, they were still there but it was apparent that their main purpose was to provide services and facilitate the workings of the village. Everyone had a purpose and new people didn't come here unless specifically recruited or applied to be allowed entry.

As he ran in a northern direction he was contemplating this and evaluating the new knowledge he had crammed inside his head during his training. He wasn't much for reading and learning but everything he was thought he was expected to remember and the way for him to do that was to mull it over and repeat it to himself during physical exercises and try to find a way to fit it into his world view.

That was just the way he worked, and once he could relate to something and place it he actually was rather good at being knowledgeable. But the more theoretical it became the harder it was to understand and recall and he was more likely to unconsciously label it as mumbo.

He loved to explore the village since everything still was brand new and there were so much to see. One thing he was fascinated with was the way the inhabitants here engaged in group training. A few times a day ninja gathered at the more open spaces between the mountains and together went through different sword katas and it wasn't unusual to see civilians to. Everyone was expected to contribute in every way possible and keeping basic swordsmanship up was one way. It helped strengthen the village in so many ways as it build companionship and a bond between strangers that they were working together and helped kept their skills sharp. The less fieldwork a ninja took the more time they were expected to spend participating in these activities.

Even fifteen minutes every morning and afternoon would make sure the nerdiest of lab rats could pose an unexpected threat.

Almost every ninja participated every once in a while and afterwards there were always those that engaged in short matches and more senior ninja and skilled fighters helped correct correct errors as well as allow them to fight a wide variety of styles.

Naruto had understood that so much here was deliberately constructed to help strengthen the whole and the people of Kumo was very pragmatic but still there weren't a lack of hot heads.

J constantly asked him to analyse everything and went over his findings as it was a good way for him to train his mind in a way that wasn't too boring for him. He had said that this way of life worked well for them and helped compensate for when they got riled up to avoid trouble where it is personal, domestic or international affairs.

He had been running for a while and there were still more to see but he was getting a little winded so he decided to take a break and take in his surroundings. He kept jogging up a walkway snaking it ways upwards along a peek running by both houses and businesses. When he came to a corner with a great view he felt that it was the perfect place to sit down at a small cafe and have something cool to drink, maybe some orange juice?

* * *

The raikage was angry, it wasn't unusual and when it came to council meetings he was always angry. He was a man of action and not talk. He made a decision and was a firm believer that any decision was better than none at all and you could always refine it or hammer out the details later.

At the moment his council was discussing his decision to integrate a third jinchuuriki into their forces and this was one of the worst parts of this type of meeting. He wanted clear opinions and not discussion so you could get some work done, this wasn't an academy class after all.

"With this we risk shaking the current balance which could have disastrous consequences. It could make others perceive us as a threat and even move Konoha to war."

"Konoha wouldn't go to war over one soldier even such a strategic resource as a jinchuuriki but it could affect our missions as well as force them into armament but I don't believe the sandaime would move towards war.

"This is too big and too fast we need to inform the daimyo and hear what he has to say about this, if this affects the civilian agreements between us and our neighbours it could have an adverse effect on our economy."

"Our economy is strong and we are not dependant on the daimyo and should push our advantage!"

"If we close our ties with Iwa we should be in a safe position where the other countries wouldn't want to provoke us."

"No, if we do that it would be seen as an aggressive move and force the other nations to form a united front, it will mark us as war mongers and would force us towards inevitable war."

"But we are prepared and the world always moves towards war, we should take the actions which gives us predictable results."

"If events were to go down that road we could always unseal the biju on our enemies and have it decimate them. Any war would be over before it has even started and we could force a peace before we have to spill any blood."

"But then we would possibly give back a strategic resource to our enemies."

"Even if it can be resealed they would be too weakened to continue a fight and it would be almost an entire generation before they would have a combat ready jinchuuriki."

When he had deemed it to gone on for long enough to sate their need for talk A finally rose and took words.

"Enough, I've already made a decision and I will stick to the deal with the kid and it's time for you to do your job and come up with plans to deal with any situation. I've read the reports and he has sufficiently lived up to his side of the deal and he will be integrated in to our forces. For all intents and purposes he will become a Kumo citizen and ninja. He will be trained as an offensive resource and through him we will have a trained jinchuuriki that can command the might of the nine tails and settle here as the official home of the Uzumaki."

"You will make sure that we can capitalise on both the political and military gains this will give us and deal with any potential fallout because when war comes we will face it as the strongest village and we will come out from it victorious and as the strongest still."

"When he is filed as a genin you can take part of the evaluations and start to come up plans for any eventual events."

And with that he left, he had another meeting to go to.

* * *

Naruto rolled to his right to avoid a quickly descending foot, his black pants and grey shirt he had gotten was dusted with grit and dirt. He wore Kumo's standard training out, favoured by academy students and genin but also popular with higher ranking ninja for training which had a high risk of damaging the clothes. They were cheap, the fabric rough but it was durable and for Naruto it did help that he thought it looked awesome when saw a group of students all looking the same except a dash of color here or there from accessories or various extra articles of clothing. It gave an impression of strength and a promise of an impending asskicking and it was easier to stand out and look cool when everybody else looked the same he thought but it would be under threat of torture before he voiced that, his sensei had come down hard on that attitude on his and he wouldn't want to draw his ire again. Sparring was difficult enough as it was.

Instead of standing his ground he flipped backwards and raised an arm to deflect a blow, he tried a leg swipe retaliation but was thwarted by a somersault and kick to his back. He rolled to his side to avoid another smashing leg and managed to deflect and block a few punches, a faint allowed one to hit his arm with numbing force but he countered by going on the offensive. An extended arm was used for extra leverage as he spun around his opponent and tried to hit him in the side with a spinning kick but before he could come close to connecting he was met with a chop to his throat and went down wheezing for air and barely registered the kunai to his throat.

"Dead."

As the kunai was removed he slowly got to his feet as he massaged the his sore throat.

"You are still slow, you are quite unpredictable but you are sloppy and easy to read, any genin with a month or two under their belt can exploit that and take you down. Every punch you take could have been a Kunai and before you know it you have bled out. If it wasn't for your sheer toughness you would have been knocked out much easier, you are training to be a Ninja and we use finesse and deliberate attacks. Clean yourself up before your evening class."

"Hai J-sensei" Naruto gave a salute and bowed before he quickly sprinted towards his quarters. Behind him J wrapped some tape around his knuckles as there were several small cuts. He didn't show it but he was impressed. His pupil improved quickly and he rarely had to repeat himself once he had gotten the knack of how to word himself and that that stamina was nothing to scoff at. On top of the wide variety of things he thought Naruto and the physical training they had been at it for almost two hours straight. He was certain that as long as he avoided getting stabbed or fired by a jutsu the boy could outlast and wear down any genin hands down and in pure taijutsu most chunin as long as he avoided KO blows.

Naruto sprinted through a narrow gorge and as it left way to more gentle slope he had to slow down to zig zag his way between the houses. Once across he came to a mountainside were his residence was located. The building was constructed right in to the mountainside with the apartments facing outside, a few of the small apartments have balconies but his was one of those with just a window with a small marquise above it. It was one of the many almost barrack like building in the village serving mostly genin ranked ninja.

He went through a double door into the main hall, it wasn't very large but it held a few sofas and a small coffee table, there was a kunoichi lounging in an armchair with her brown hair hanging over the headrest and on the wall was painted in nuances of midnight blue with lightning streaking across it. Across the room was a staircase where he headed and after three flights of stairs and a corridor parallel to the cliff side he went inside his apartment.

It wasn't very large and sparsely furnished but it wasn't bad. The ceiling and floor was covered in wood and the walls plastered and painted in a soft gray/white to allow maximum light in the room. To the left he had a small bathroom with a shower and the stone that it was cut out from was polished. The small hallway had room to put shoes to the right and along the same room two closets and to the left after the bathroom there was a kitchenette before opening up to the main room. He had a desk with a chair, a large drawer,bed and a small couch. On the windowsill he had gotten a small plant, a low flower with leathery leaves which would bloom during the autumn in a matted red.

He threw his clothes in a bin at the end of his bed, the shirt hanging over the edge as it was getting full, laundry was getting urgent to get done but luckily every floor had a small laundry room. He took a quick shower and grabbed a wrapped sandwich from his fridge. As he ate he looked out the window. The view was quite nice facing the small residential district on the slope outside. It wasn't the busiest area when it came to commerce but a few small stores dotted the area. The slope faced southeast and didn't get quite the spectacular view as those areas that got the sunsets but atleast he woke up with the sun lightening his room in the morning which was a plus as he liked getting up early, it was just so hard to do.

The quick meal was soon finished and he prepared to leave. Normally he thrived on the attention that his personal instructors gave but no matter what you called it school was till school. He steeled himself for a few hours of intellectual gain and challenge and pulled a dark green shirt over his head. He had accepted the raikages offer and a few books wasn't going to dissuade from fulfilling his part of the deal and to find out who his parents were and there were always more training to compensate for those few dull hours later.

* * *

The search for Naruto's whereabouts hadn't gone well. In the deeper parts of northern Konoha towards the land of Rice and land of Hot Springs the trail had started going cold. The corrupting chakre the boy had used had destroyed a lot of his scent trail and he hadn't left much else to follow. In the few scattered villages there had been some people telling about a feeling of unease or dread but the workers, farmhands and few travelers that had felt it were to spread out and moved to much to give precise direction. It was like a wave spreading out, the further from the source the more possible directions there were. He had a few team still out searching but he didnät hold much hope they would find anything because the trail was too old and he couldn't risk increasing the activity in that area lest he provoke Kumogakure in to a border skirmish, bloodshed was something he didn't want for something with such a low chance of success.

He would have to hold his head high and hope that a lead might come up later and move to compensate for the loss of their jinchuuriki in other ways. It was sad that a boys life had to be reduced to a pawn in the game to keep the tender balance of power in the world but such was the life a human sacrifice.

The slight fluctuations of chakra signaled the arrival of one of his anbu.

"Hokage-sama I'm here to report that Iruka-san has awoken."

"Very well, return to your duties anbu san."

Just as quickly he had arrive the anbu operative vanished.

He notified his staff that he was leaving and then he was on his way to the hospital. Two guards formed up, visible for all to see, and another two was shadowing them to be able to provide support as well as take care of anything before it was a problem. Not that it was common but it was once you let your guard down you were greeted by trouble.

He traveled at a dignified pace seemingly with a purpose but not hurried and a few times took the opportunity to exchange a few words or just a polite nod to his people. It was always good for morale to walk around the village as it's leader. Kami knew that he could use it himself, not that he let it show.

Once at the hospital he didn't need to be told which room Iruka was located in but even so he took the time to acknowledge and greet the receptionist and the staff he met in the hallways.

It was in a well lit and airy room a seemingly healthy Iruka was propped up in his bed. Despite the injuries he had suffered the only visible signs that he wasn't in full health was the bleaker skin tone and his bones being a little more pronounced, a side effect of being unconscious and able to eat solid food for several weeks.

"Hokage-sama, what can I do for you?" the man greeted his leader.

"Rest Iruka-kun you have been through a lot, I just want to check up on how you are feeling and ask a few questions."

Iruka nodded and lay back his head.

"I'm well despite everything, a little queasy from trying to eat and a little worried about Naruto. How is he?"

The hokage sighed sadly.

"I'm afraid I can't answer that and it's concerning Naruto I wanted to see you."

Iruka's face grew heavy with concern. Despite his dislike for Naruto when he had become the boy's sensei he had grown fond of him and almost considered him as an adoptive little brother. He had been looking forward to the boys graduation so that he could interact more freely with him.

"What's wrong? He.. he is alive isn't he?" He hesitated when saying those last words, dreading the answer to his question.

"I don't have a definite answer to that question. We don't have a body. From what we can tell from where we found you he accessed kyuubi's chakra and then disappeared."

Feeling the full weight of his significant age Hiruzen continued.

"There wasn't much left from Mizuki, he was torn to pieces and there was a trail leaving the area. Unfortunately it went cold."

Iruka's face got white at hearing that, Naruto was missing. Possibly dead or hurt but also left alone to having to deal with his first kill and a rather brutal kill it seemed.

"Do you remember what happened?"

"Hai" Iruka responded with a low sad voice.

"When I heard what had happened I joined the search. I know Naruto and was confident that I could find him. Hopefully before he got himself into more trouble. I remember thinking of how could he be so stupid as to steal such an important item from you. I did find him, he was there with Mizuki. He held the scroll protectively as they stared at each other. I told him to give me the scroll and come back to you so that we could clear this mess up."

He paused, his throat felt dry and he wasn't sure that his voice would hold. It wouldn't do to break down in front of his leader. He took a deep breath and steadied himself as he recalled what had happened.

"It was Mizuki that responded , he told Naruto to give the scroll to him and to me he said that now was our chance to take our revenge at the demon. I told him that it was against your law to speak about Naruto's burden but he just went on about why the poor boy was so hated. He told him that he was the Kyuubi and a gullible fool to be so easily tricked, both in to stealing the scroll and for believing that he was human."

Inside Iruka sincerely hoped that Naruto was alright and that he knew that he wasn't the creature he held at bay. He was human, once of the most kind and humane of all humans. The boys strength and spirit was proof that he was the right choice in vessel to protect the village.

"Naruto looked at me, straight in the eyes. He looked so sad, as if he truly believed Mizuki-teme." His voice was starting to crack and it was easy to hear Iruka's sadness and anger.

"I-i didn't have time to answer him. I raised my arms to block the incoming shurikens but missed the fuma one that struck me in the chest, the last thing I saw was another salvo heading straight for Naruto before I blacked out. I'm sorry I can't be of more help." He lowered his head in sadness and guilt.

"No need to apologise. It may not help in telling us where Naruto is but atleast it clears his name. I admit that it has weighed heavily on my mind the thought of Naruto being a traitor." Hiruzen smiled a sad smile.

"Get well Iruka, the academy needs you and once we find Naruto he will need you too, you serve your village with pride."

"Hai hokage-sama." He responded, determined to do his best for his home and see his brother once more safe where he belongs.

* * *

Elsewhere in the world Naruto was happily shoving food down his throat at a pace that even a garbage disposal would be envious of. Onigiri was munched down quickly and with swift movements he maneuvered the chopsticks with great skill to pluck out meats and even vegetables to dip and mix with different condiments. He burned through a lot of energy during the physical aspects of his training and especially draining were the academy stuff to deal with. He had to go over different protocols, tactics, history and a wide array of subject. On top of that he had extra "training" to learn to reel in his personality after a few clips of his tongue and maybe a choice prank, the worst part was when he had to spend time with Eiko no Kimi and learn proper behavior. It involved a lot of sitting still and boooring lectures, she had even handed him a dictionary because his vocabulary was impoverished and meager at best.

He totally disagreed that polite conversation skills and how to handle yourself at a court was skills needed by a ninja, the only thing you had to know was who was a friend and who was your foe and then beat them up, or maybe kill. It was a true testament to how far his training had come towards the path of a ninja as those last words snuck in with his thoughts.

As he was picking up and transporting food to his mouth he went deep in to his thoughts and rehearsed several standard procedures that all Kumo ninja had to know. He was glad he wasn't a genin yet because once you started rising in clearance there was even more things to memorize.

He was so far gone that he was unaware that another boy around the same age as him entered. As the newcomer sat down he accidentally shoved Naruto as he adjusted his blade to sit down causing Naruto to knock around his food making both making a complete mess of both the countertop and his shirt.

Naruto quickly spun around standing in one go and very angry. Normally he would have been annoyed and maybe just a little irritated but he was mad at himself for being so unaware as to not notice someone so clumsy. Situational awareness was something he was drilled heavily in and he was lucky his sensei wasn't there to catch him as he slipped up. But being disturbed as he was that anger instead got directed at the boy and he blurted out the first thing that came to him.

"Hey watch it assface!"

"Who are you calling assface punkass!? I was gonna apologize bastard!"

"A little too late for that!" He sized up the bastard that had ruined his meal. Brown hair, not too long and swept to the side under his hitai-ate. Dark almost black eyes and a sharp nose. He was a few centimeters taller than himself and a bit larger, he wasn't bulky but it was apparent that he favoured strength from his build.

"Lets take this outside if you are so hungry you can't even sit down I'll make you eat a face full of dirt!" Naruto was indeed quite angry and just a tid bit irritated from going over all of his more intellectual pursuits and assface had given him a totally legit excuse to blow off some steam.

"As if" The boy scoffed.

"Are you even a real ninja? You are too damn loud!"

"Yea well no, but I'm going to be one soon and a damn good one!" Naruto responded, not at all happy of being questioned.

"Pfft so you are just a civilian kid playing around, figures."

"So what assface, are you scare of getting your ass kicked? Or maybe your face since thats where your ass is!"

"Yea right, me? Scared of you? In your dream but I'd get in trouble for taking you down and fighting a civilian, civvy."

"You just wait and see, as soon as I get my hitai-ate I'm coming for you." He turned to his left to walk outside, fuming at both the food and being denied the satisfaction of a good fight.

"You do that, once you get out of kiddie school look for me. Masahiro Kodama, civvy."

"Naruto." Naruto growled out. "And you better remember it assface. My name will be in the books as an S rank quicker than you can become a chuunin dattebayo!" And with that he left the small establishment.

A few people who were outside watched him as he left, curiosity had drawn them to halt and listen in on the short altercation.

"What are you staring at!" He hissed and walked down the dirt road with his hand in his pant pockets.

* * *

Naruto was walking together with his sensei J they had finished training just earlier and were heading back. They had both grown accustomed to each other during the past months and along fairly well. J could be a real hardass but at the same time friendly. At first he had been merciless but he respected Naruto for never backing down or being afraid to rise to a challenge and as the boy had adapted and smoothed over his most glaring mistakes in the way he acted they both had started to get along fairly smoothly.

"You think I could get a pair of sunglasses too?"

"Nothing is stopping you. All you need to do is find a pair that suits you. But as with any accessory if you don't find the right one you risk looking like a fool."

"Do you speak of experience?"

"Where I do or not is of no concern to you, I'm not telling you."

"Hey who do you hang out with?" The blonde tried.

"Good angle but not very subtle. Atleast you are trying if poorly." J smiled, the squinting of the muscles around his eyes gave it away.

"I always try and I never give up dattebayo!"

They continued their banter not at all in a hurry. The weather was nice and Naruto had finished with his remedial studies two weeks earlier so he had more time to train by himself but also to relax and plan his day more freely. He actually missed it somewhat since at least he met the same people and being on a schedule kept his mind from thinking about what had happened and the things and people he missed.

His outlook on the more intellectual arts of a shinobi had also shifted slightly and he respected it a lot more. He still wasn't a big fan of studying or researching different subject but he understood the value of knowledge better, even his lectures with Eiko no kimi. He had actually grown fond of her and considered her a friend. She was always friendly and polite but a little brusque when it came to his failings. She treated him as a human and once he started to do as she said it wasn't as much lecturing as it was just discussing. They spent their time speaking about a multitude of subjects and she would explain things he didn't understand and correct him when he did something wrong.

He thought about the last conversation they had had during their official meetings as he and J walked in a comfortable silence.

"This marks your final tutoring session here with me as we are drawing to an end with your assigned time here with me. I can safely say that your conversational skills are at an satisfactory level and that you have learned how to behave." She had smiled a soft and genuine smile as she spoke.

"You are a good boy and your previously appalling way to behave was not of your own making. You should be proud of what you have achieved here. I hope you seek me out if you are in need of anything when it comes to how to interact with high class society but at least you will not shame me when you are away on missions."

"Arigato sensei." He bowed to her.

"Thank you for your kind words, I've also appreciated my time here and I have learned a lot from you." The formal phrasing still felt a bit wrong but it came easy enough to him but he failed horribly at keeping the pride and happiness from gracing his face.

"Don't be afraid to visit even for some tea and conversation boy, don't you dare to forget to drop by every now and then ne?." Even for someone so acquainted with dealing with nobles knew how to be more informal.

"I promise I won't dattebayo! See you later oba-san!" And with that he had sprinted out from her home.

He had learned his lesson from the incident with Kodama about a month ago and especially now that he was with J he was paying extra attention to his surrounding so he was well aware when a kunoichi appeared in front of them. She was wearing a fairly standard Kumogakure uniform with short sleeves, bandaged arm and her blonde hair back in a ponytail with her hitai-ite partly covered by the fringes.

"Good day Yugito-sama." J said politely.

The now identified kunoichi nodded in acknowledgement.

"And to you too J-san. I'm here for Naruto-san."

J smiled. "So I was informed of by raikage-sama, I leave him in your care." He turned his head to Naruto.

"Naruto-kun you are to go with Yugito-sama and follow her instruction, I won't tolerate any insubordination am I clear." His words were stern but he hadn't put extra emphasis by changing his tone from their earlier banter. He trusted that Naruto would comply with his superiors.

"Hai sensei don't worry you won't hear a word about me." Naruto smiled at both J and Yugito.

"Don't make promises you can't keep." And with that he disappeared in a shunshin.

"What are we doing Yugito…" He paused slightly consider the right honorific. "...-sama."

"No need to be so formal, san will suffice. We do share the same burden. We will head north to one of the more outlying plateaus, I trust that you can keep up?"

"Hai!"

"That's good. Just follow me." She bent her knees slightly and kicked off, Naruto following here shortly.

After a few minutes they had cleared the village and traveled for a short distance through the rugged terrain, they came to a halt at their destination. The area was several hundred meters in diameter and the rough surface carried many scars of battle, they had come down from a long rocky slope and on the opposing side was a steep cliff. To the right was a steep incline and the chasm to the left was blocked by an ominous crag. Nothing blocked the northern wind whipping at them and it didn't feeling like a very hospitable place to be.

"We are here to fight right?

"That's right, this place is used for training when there is a high certainty of large scale devastation." She pointed to the left side of the plateau where there was a large boulder cracked and split down the middle, it was the size of a house.

"That was done when A-sama and B-san was sparring."

He gulped, feeling just a bit nervous at that.

"Don't pull your punches or your will get hurt." She smirke. "But this will most likely hurt either way."

And then she was on top of him. She opened with a straight punch, relatively easy to deal with but powerful nonetheless. She was here to test him and push him not to assassinate him after all.

He crossed his arm and braced himself with no time to react any other way. He felt the force in his entire body but the with the help of some chakra in his arm he avoided having them broken.

His body responding to the call of battle and his chakra was agitated as his body was preparing for the fight, reinforcing his limbs and boosting strength, speed and reflexes.

He did his best to avoid the beating she was laying on him but she was fast, strong and fought with ferocity. She relied on a vicious in your face style to test him out and kick him in gear.

He didn't have time to retaliate as kicks, punches, elbows and knees rained on to him. He did his best to adapt and when he got the smallest of openings he used it to kick away from here and get some distance. She gave him that to observe his next move.

He drew a tanto that was strapped to his thigh, when his hand went to his thigh in that way told her what his intentions were she quickly threw a three shurikens. He rolled to his side to avoid them but before he got up two more in the air. He deflect them but she was moving in a circle around him and kept the metal in the air. By drawing a blade he declared his intentions of close range combat and so she wanted to see how he dealt with being denied that by keeping him at range. A kunai graced his shoulder and he hissed, fortunately she had stopped throwing weapons at him and was going through a chain of handsigns. He dashed forward but instead had to avoid a wall of fire. He changed direction to go around it but with his vision obscured he didn't see her circling around the other side.

He just felt the heat and heard the noise of an incoming fire attack from behind and substituted quickly with a rock that was several meters in front of him and then rolled to the side. It had taken the brunt of the flamethrower like attack which scattered and instead of going straight incinerated the area around the rock.

He was hard pressed, she had him beat at speed, strength, experience, taijutsu and ninjutsu. As it was there wasn't a single point where he held an advantage and he only had one ace which he had to bring out.

With the tanto in a reverse grip his hands flew up in a cross like fashion.

"Tajuu kage bunshin no jutsu!" He screamed in defiance. Suddenly there were hundreds upon hundreds of Narutos on the plateau. They all grinned together, taking a ready stance with their tanto thinking that the tables were turned.

As Naruto himself shot forward a wave of clones joined him, it wouldn't do if them all just threw themself in one big pile after all.

Yugito just smirked as this what was she was here to see and test the limits off. She pulled on the tainted chakra that was provided by the biju sealed inside her. Not enough for a full tail but enough for long thing claws to sprout from her fingers and boost her overall performance. She met the clones in a flurry, despite the fact that both they and Naruto managed to get in a few nicks and scratches on her for every mark they left she took out several dozens.

He jumped back and replenished the clones to even greater numbers. He jumped up on a boulder to observe but his vision was blocked by black and gray mingled with dashes of orange and of course yellowish blonde hair. The smoke from clones dispersing didn't help and he had just a vague understanding of how the battle was going from the influx of memories that came from the clones. He wasn't aware of it but the huge amount of information merged into a feeling of the flow of the fight.

* * *

Up in the slope they had first come from there was a small gathering of people. It was the raikage with his closest staff, B and J.

"He really can pump out a lot of clones." A said.

"Hai raikage-sama." J responded. "And they are solid and can work independent of the creator."

"Interesting." A mused.

"I've had him do some preliminary testing of what they can do, they each hold enough chakra to perform several jutsu. So far he hasn't got any with offensive or truly defensive capabilities except the Konoha standard but the last until they run out of chakra. If they don't engage in battle that's at least several hours."

"They seem to have some sort of bond with the creator as I've noticed that he reacts to when they are taken out even from a distance and out of site."

"They are at his own skill level but not at full speed and strength of the original. Once he is made genin I would like to test his clones one on one with a selection of genin and perhaps pit squads against either genin teams or chunins to get a better picture of their combat potential but it's at least in the category of an entire company."

"Once he adds some ninjutsu to that maybe even a small battalion."

"The boy doesn't disappoint." A grunted.

"He sure doesn't." Was what J responded as their full focus once again was on the fight.

* * *

When he was at his fourth wave of clones he was feeling the drain of the technique. He had never created so many clones in such a short amount of time, it hadn't been more than a few minutes since the first one and was not used to feeling such a strain on his chakra. A good deal of it was also mental fatigue but in the heat of the fight he wasn't able to differentiate between mental and physical, he just felt tired through and through. Way more than even the toughest training with J.

Suddenly there was a change as a blue tail formed behind Yugito and swifts of blue chakra, almost like small gatherings of mist, seemed to move around here. It wasn't a full cloak but her claws grew even longer and contact with the tail proved fatal with the clones. Their numbers was dwindling at an even more rapid pace and he was growing desperate.

He pulled on his chakra, tugging on it to conform to his will as if it was heavy and unwilling to cooperate. He formed the sign and screamed as he pushed the chakra through his coils and an even greater amount of clones easily numbering a thousand or more formed. He fell to a knee and panted heavily as the clones engaged in a ferocious battle.

The blue chakra formed into a cloak around Yugito and as a large amount of clones jumped in to engage her they were suddenly annihilated as a large blue flaming cat with two tails stood in her place. Naruto was staring in awe as she swatted away throngs of clones and burned even more with balls of blue fire.

He barely had any energy to react when a mouse shaped ball of fire was roaring towards him.

He felt pure raw fear as the ball was coming closer at an unfathomable speed. He thought he was going to die and as it almost was upon him he felt like he was burning. He tried to scream as he was cowered in a red aura. Several of his features quickly changed and in less than a second he was hunched over, his teeth sharp, whiskers deep and hands clawed. It was like looking up from underwater only with the surface on fire. Everything was red and blurry. Two tails swished behind him and as the blue fire connected it wasn't fear he felt but pain and rage. He flew backwards but quickly regained his bearing standing on all four. The giant blue cat the only thing standing out like a lighthouse and the focus of his anger.

As he jumped forward towards it he was slammed down hard to the ground and was pinned there by what seemed to be a huge log. He tried to struggle but as it held him down, even withstanding the corrosive chakra surrounding him he was starting to feel drained. Slowly the rage faded and pain started to overtake him. He saw a giant silhouette above him and as he was losing consciousness his last thoughts was how weird those moving logs were.

It took a while for him to recover but as he was waking up he just felt numb and exhausted. The first thing he saw was C with his hands hovering above him. As his mind sorted itself out and memories came back he assumed that he was healing him.

There was several other people there with them. He turned his head to his side and saw Yugito which had a look of concern on her face.

"I'm sorry that I hurt you."

"Don't worry I'm a tougher than most people"

"That's good." She gave him an apologetic smile. "Atleast I did warn you that you might get hurt."

He tried to chuckle but his body protested, he didn't feel it only that his body tensed up.

"Try to be still I'm still patching you up. I'm numbing your body but you will be sore and in some pain once I'm done." C said.

"Yo that fight was intense kid!"

"Hey B." He said as B came up next to Yugito.

"That was your transformation that took me down wasn't it?"

"Yea, didn't mean to hurt you but I had to prevent you from trying to kill Ni-chan and hurting yourself even worse." He had his arm behind his head and looked a little awkward, the absence of rapping was a definite tell tale but was hit by a rough elbow from Yugito to his side making him grunt.

"Don't call me!" She hissed at him.

"Don't twist your tails little kitten, just lightening the mood and all."

She looked furious and almost ready to pop back into her bijuu mode when another voice spoke up and prevented a possible murder.

"Enough B!" It was the large leader of the village.

"You fought well for someone so small boy. When you are done here, get yourself cleaned and come to my office." He addressed Naruto and threw down a piece of cloth on Naruto's chest. Between the dark, almost black, grey metal glinted. He vanished in the crackling of lightning.

Naruto lay back his head and watched the sky as large clouds moved past at a steady pace.

"Yata! I'm finally a ninja!" He screamed with all the strength he could muster.

"Congratulations, I never doubted that you'd pass." J-said as the others around him also congratulated him.

* * *

I hope I've managed to use the japanese words and honorifics in a correct way. I don't intend to going too heavy with the japanese because what I do know is what I've picked up from reading fanfics and some slight previous knowledge. I try to be consequent in my usage of japanese.

Input is appreciated. :)


	3. Chapter 3

"Hatake I'm disappointed with the lack of progress on your squad. With those three you should be at the top when compared to the other rookie teams, you are last."

"Mah, they are advancing as fast as they can but they still don't grasp the necessity of teamwork." The lazy jounin

"That's not good enough. Inoichi has gone over their profiles and prepared a suitable course of action." The sandaime nodded towards a folder on his desk.

Kakashi picked up the folder and skimmed it's contents .

"It almost sounds as if you want me to prepare them for war, are you sure this is wise?" Hatake Kakashi as a senior jounin and veteran was one of a handful who ever dared to question his leader, which was not only strong but also considered extremely wise.

"No but with the loss of Naruto-kun I feel as if the precarious balance of the last decade is slowly tipping and we must make sure it falls in our favour. We can't afford to lose the Uchiha for any reason and if you must prepare him to be able to deal with his brother if they run in to each other then so be it. If he were to die I'm afraid that it wouldn't be long before others began to prod us."

It was dark and gloomy words from the sandaime but Kakashi understood it all too well, he wasn't happy that the one boy who rightfully should have been his student wasn't there. He owed his sensei to not only train him but make sure he was alright and it would seem he had failed both. Left was only his duty to the village.

They were interrupted by an older man with long white hair breaking in through the window.

"What's this about you losing my godson?"

"Hokage-sama, Jiraya-sama." Kakashi nodded to them both. "Tata!." And then he bailed.

* * *

It didn't take too long to recover, once C was done he had sat up. Both C and Yugito took off with Yugito once more apologizing. He sat there talking with B and J for a while before he stood up.

"Lets hurry I don't want to keep raikage-sama waiting!" He shouted as he started running towards the village.

"I'm sure that's the reason." J mumbled to himself as he went after the newly minted genin leaving killer B sitting alone with his rhymes.

Naruto was brimming with energy which was so weird after watching such a battle not even an hour ago but he wrote it off as excitement, he was afterall pricy to deal that had been struck as well as parts of Naruto's earlier life and it was to be expected that the boy was excited.

It was lucky that the guards situated inside and around the raikage's tower had been made aware of the probable arrival of Naruto as he sped inside and burst through the door to A's office.

"I fulfilled my part of the deal now it's your turn rairai!" And there went all the blood from J's face.

The mood moth inside and outside the office suddenly turned icecold. It was as if the time suddenly stood still. No one dared to speak in such a way to the raikage except B as he was the only person to be able to survive A's wrath.

A's serious face broke in a slightly feral grin as he started laughing, people could manage to breath again but only because there wouldn't be anyone dead, just most likely hurt and sent to the hospital.

"You got balls Naruto come inside my office and insult me." He said.

Naruto paled as he realised what he had done and bowed. "I apologise raikage-sama I must have hit my head or something earlier."

"Or something…" J said thinking of the battle.

"You are forgiven this once, I'm pleased to see that you have donned your hitai-ite. Once it has graced your forehead it marks you as one of us. You are now a Kumogakure shinobi, my soldier and out comrade."

"I consider myself a man of honour but honour is hard to come by in our world but between comrades it should always be upheld." He held Naruto's gaze firmly.

"It comes with both privileges and obligations to be one of my shinobi." He walked up to Naruto.

He held out his hand to Naruto which took it and they shook hands. The raikage's handshake was firm and immovable as a mountain yet with controlled strength to not crush the boys hand.

"You can tell a lot of a man from his handshake." He continued. "I'm glad that you live up to the what I've expected you."

He turned towards his desk and took up two folders and a small book.

"Your mother was a kunoichi serving Konoha belonging to the Uzumaki clan."

J looked at Naruto and saw that the boys attention was completely focused on raikage-sama and his words.

"Uzumaki…" He continued. "...hailed from the islands of the coast outside the land of fire. They were the founders of the village of Uzugakure. Allies of Konoha and cousins of the Senju they shared a blood bond with them as cousins of both Senju and Uchiha. That's the reason we know a fair bit about them."

He turned around and was pleased to see that the boys attention held.

"Their village was destroyed during the second shinobi war and your mother must have gone to Konoha sometime earlier and it wasn't long before she was the last Uzumaki that we knew of."

"It's not an accident that you are the jinchuuriki of the kyuubi as the Uzumaki comes from the strongest of blood and are gifted with a strong life force, far stronger than any other. Perfect vessels for holding back the might of the bijuus."

"We once sought in the aftermath of your clan's destruction to gather the remnants of the knowledge that they had possessed, mostly in the arts of sealing. We didn't find a lot but what we found has been a of great help for kanji division. If you ever want to learn more about that part of your heritage seek them out. I've given them instructions to allow you access to all information pertaining the Uzumaki."

Naruto was completely gobsmacked, he was being told about his family. They were no more but they sounded like total badasses.

"Before B became the current jinchuuriki we was plagued by the frequent rampages that hachibi brought upon us as there wasnät anyone strong enough to hold it's immense power."

He handed one thin folder to Naruto, he opened it up. It only contained two page and no images. At the top there was black marks and next to it it read redacted. The entire document was covered in black, leaving precious few words to be read. Mission: Secure and retrieve.

Priority: high. Orders: safe and unharmed. Target: Uzumaki Kushina. Completion status: Failure.

There was more blacked out text and the last word read Casualties: .

Naruto was confused and unsure how to deal with it, apparently the very village that he had sworn loyalty had once tried kidnap his mom. But at the same time A didn't try to hide it and while being educated here in Kumo he had been made well aware of the dark dealings the villages conducted as well as Kumogakure's attempts at gaining strength as well as protocols dealing with potential assets.

"Why are you telling me this? This seems to be highly classified." He was conflicted and unsure on how to handle this information, should he be angry, happy? It just felt so insignificant and irrelevant to him, like it didn't affect him.

"Because you will be expected to perform missions outside the village, sooner or later you will make a name for yourself and your presence and status as a jinchuuriki known to the other villages. When Konoha find out about your status as one of us it will shake things up and you are bound to come in contact with their shinobi at one point and they will most likely want you back."

He snorted at that.

"Any personal information pertaining you can be used against you and as I said I value honour but also in those instances that I can afford honesty."

He understood, A truly meant what he had said about him now belonging here and being one of their comrades. He was moved by it, he was accepted fully, not only by a few or maybe barely tolerated but here his burden and strength was seen as something to be proud of, he felt tears threatening to form and it was hard to keep his eyes from taking a wet shine as he looked at A and could only see a man that stood behind his words with his full might.

"Don't worry raikage-sama I wont dissapoint you dattebayo!"

"I'm sure you won't as long as you remain strong in both body and mind. Here in this folder is what we have on your mother, it's not much but our shinobi did battle with her several times and you might find it interesting." He opened the small book he also held. "'This is an old bingo book from the time of the last war and here is your mothers entry this is the only picture we that we have."

Naruto took both the folder and the book carefully, almost with a devout reference to the objects and for the first time of his life he knew what one of his parents looked like.

* * *

Naruto had left together with J, the folders clutched tight and the book in his pocket as they walked towards his home. There he had stashed them as J had taken him to a nearby bar. He had been told that he would have two days off for himself and then be prepared to be called for missions should he be needed. He would work alongside whoever was available when there was a suitable mission but it would also leave him with a lot of time to train by himself, with J when he was available and also Yugito and B to start him on the path of using kyuubi's power. They came to a small establishment in the middle of an open area. The building was round and cloth hang down from the roof. In the middle there was a round island with the people serving standing in the middle. The counter was separated by several dividers giving some privacy to the patrons and there were between two and four seats at each section. In the middle work area there was a small staircase from where the servers brought refreshments as well as snacks.

"Saker. two cups." J said as the server approached them. He then spoke to Naruto. "When I became genin my sensei took my team to share sake and I feel it is appropriate that we do too even if you are not on a team."

"Hai, I've never had sake I wonder what it tastes like."

"It can be a little rough if you are new to alcohol especially as you are so young, but remember to not overdo it when you drink as too much is bad for your health."

"But why would you drink then?"

"For many reason. Some like the taste, others for the effect of alcohol either to let loose, celebrate or forget. A lot of people make their own rituals around it and I make a point of always remember my allegiance."

"I can't wait to taste it." Naruto grinned and was rewarded by a small smile back.

They didn't have to wait long for two cups of warm sake to be served. Naruto mirrored his sensei as he took his cup and raised it slightly.

"Kanpai."

"Kanpai!"

They both drank, J savoured the warm liquid but Naruto quickly dumped it all down his gullet, and then started coughing. His reward was a knowing laugh from J.

"You could have warned me!" He pointed accusingly at J."

"I did tell you it could be a little rough."

"But why would anyone want to drink this?"

"As I told you they do it for many reason, some drink even stronger liqueur. It's an acquired taste and maybe when you are older you will too like it.".

Naruto contemplated on his words but decided that it wasn't something he wanted to pursue. Maybe there would be a time when he would want to but most definitely now.

* * *

It was a getting late in to the afternoon and time to consider getting some dinner. It had been a long and eventful day afterall. After splitting up from J he had gone to check of some new gear. After getting enamoured in ninja wrappings he had spent some time trying some out but they were annoying to drape around you, had constantly to be reapplied and he just couldn't picture himself in it after standing in the store watching himself in a mirror making an idiot out of himself.

He understood what J had said when he had mentioned that he wanted some cool sunglasses too but decided that it was for tomorrow as his stomach kept grumbling. He had gone to a place that served different sorts of noodles including ramen. It wasn't as good as Ichiraku but no ramen ever was. Whenever he ate ramen he was reminded of Konoha, both the good and the bad but it was his way to pay homage to what he had lost and remember those that he cared for. Maybe this was similar to what J had said about sake?

It was then IT happened. A black haired girl with black paint across her face and flame styled hair kept back by her hitai-ite entered. She wore a tight black jacket with a white popped collar.

She wasn't what caught his attention and neither the tall green eyed guy with dull blue hair and lighter skin tone than most Kumogakure residents. It was the other guy.

"You!" Naruto yelled. "Here to ruin my dinner again!? And when I'm eating ramen!? Do you have no decency?"

"Hey it's you again civvy. I see you finally made it as a ninja, it took you long enough or did you just buy that hitai-ite from the second hand store?" The muscular guy dressed in military gray garbs said.

"Take that back assface I earned this fair and square." He said while pointing with his thumb towards his head.

"There is no need to be upset here, we just came to get something to eat and there is obviously some history between you." Came the smooth almost elegant voice of the taller boy.

Kodama snorted. "You can say that, this is the civvy, that tried to fight me. Remember I told you about it?"

"The little runt you spoke of? This guy doesn't fit the description, you said he looked like a weak little idiot that couldn't even handle paper shurikens." It was spoken with a light happy jovial voice that didn't really seem to fit with the dark topped girl. "My name is Sayomi." She said smiling and tilted her head a little. She was creeping Naruto out a little bit but at least she seemed nice but Naruto was becoming upset. Or more like upseterer than he had been seeing Kodama, and dattebayo he swore that if anyone would say that if upseterer isn't a word he would be totally upseterered or something…

"Oh so assface-san doesn't just like to ruin peoples dinner now he is spreading rumors too!" Naruto was absolutely fuming by now, why did things always have to happen when he was eating or otherwise preoccupied deep in thought.

"Hey if you have a problem let's take this outside! Wasn't it you that wanted to fight last time huh!?" Kodama tried to step closer to Naruto but his male teammate stopped him with his arm.

"No thank you teme I'm sore as hell from today."

"Oh and why is that? Fell out of bed? Walked into a door?"

"Teme! I was training and then I had to fight with Yugito-san, you would hurt too if you had to do that." Naruto took a step towards the object of his ire and growled.

"Wait you fought with Yugito-sama?" The creepy girl said and placed herself strategically between the two boys.

"You bet your ass I did, she came and got me from sensei and said it was on the raikage's order and took me way up on the northern side. It was brutal. She was right in my face and I couldn't do anything and when I finally drew my tanto she was running circles around me, then she was throwing around fire like it was nothing and I didn't have anything to counter with and there was no cover. She almost turned me to ashes, I had to pull every trick I had just to survive and then she went through my clones like it was nothing." Naruto was babbling like mad. Apparently he was more than a little stressed about the days events. "And when I made more she just continued to kill them, she was destroying them like they were ants and that blue fire she used wasn't stopped by them, it just went right through them. It didn't even go straight but hunted them down like rats. No matter how many I it didn't work and she started even smashing them with her tails and then went after me and on top of that when I jumped at her B smashed me down. At first I thought it was a huge log that hit me but when I woke up I realised it was him."

The two boys had gone slightly pale at his rant but the girl just kept grinning. He was a little out of breath when he finished and when he saw their faces his mind kicked into gear.

"Shit damn it, crap! Fuck, I shouldn't have told you that, can we go somewhere else.

The small group left and went to a nearby training ground with Naruto facing the group, the boys over their initial shock and now curious instead.

"Did you really fight both guardians in their bijuu mode?" It was the girl that first braved the uncomfortable silence.

He shook his head weakly. "No just Yugito. I wasn't aware that B was there before I woke up."

"Look I really shouldnt have told you guys that, it's a secret probably B or A ranked since it will eventually be common knowledge anyway."

"What do you mean why would someone barely a genin fight a guardian?" It was Kodama that asked.

"It was part of testing if I was ready to become a genin, you see I'm not from around here."

"Where are you from then?" It was blue that spoke.

"Konohagakure."

"That's unusual but why are you here then?" He pressed on.

"It's a weird story but I kind of left when I found out that I'm an jinchuuriki."

They were perplexed that there was a jinchuuriki from another village that even was at their age was here, or two of them were. One was frightened.

"Shit dude I'm sorry about earlier, I didn't mean any harm and I was going to apologise I really was but you kinda pissed me of when you started yelling and stuff."

Naruto scratched his head a little awkwardly. He knew people would know eventually but not so soon and even thou he knew how B and Yugito was treated ha had been nervous of how people would react.

"It's okay, I might have overreacted a little too and you caught me at bad times."

"Enough with the mushy mush guys I'm curious! Was that why you fought with Yugito-sama to train as a jinchuuriki?" Sayomi said.

"Not exactly, she had been instructed to push me as far as she could and it kinda just happened."

"So you did use it's power?" She continued.

"Yea, when the fire came at me it wa so fast I couldn't react and I just froze. I thought I was going to die and then I got really angry. Like raikage angry but when I charged B stopped me and well when I woke up they were all there and A-sama gave me my hitai-ite."

"How does it work?" Blue said. When Naruto looked at him like he was stupid he clarified. "I mean drawing on it's power."

"Well I'm not really sure I haven't started training yet but it seems to be when I'm angry. In those situations you are not thinking clearly and it could just be the extreme emotions." He responded.

"huh?" Came from Kodama.

"Like today, I really thought I was going to die I think it was such an extreme that brought it out." Naruto clarified.

"What so if you were extremely horny you mean you could tap into the bijuus power? So like if you wake up after a really really good dream you would go all jinchuuriki and stuff?"

Naruto gaped at him, unable to answer. His face felt warm and cheeks tinted rosy.

Sayomi was giggling furiously and thought the situation was hilarious and Kodama just smirked thinking he'd been really clever.

It was blue that came to his rescue. "I think that's only you Kodama-baka. We are lucky you are not a jinchuuriki, truly we are."

Both Sayomi and Naruto broke down into laughter as it was Kodama's turn to gape stupidly.

"Hey dude not cool at all."

"Hey it's totally fair, you started it." Sayomi said as she came down from her fit of laughter.

"Yea yea whatever." He said defiantly as he crossed his arms with a sour look.

"Naruto I still got more questions if it's okay?" She said.

"Sure as long as it's not about my dreams or anything weird." He answered.

"Nah I won't but I can't promise that Kodama won't weird you out again." She smiled and looked his way.

"Come on I don't deserve that!"

"Shit roll down hill my friend." Blue said.

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"It means that we are currently on the hilltop while you are squatting in the valley."

They kept talking and bantering for a while bickering mixed with mostly Sayomi asking about Naruto. He had told them about why he left and what had happened once he woke up here and his time training. They had been really curious when he had spoken about Konoha as it was one thing reading and learning in the academy and another hearing from someone who had lived there.

"It was good meeting you Naruto-san. My name is Idane and I look forward to seeing you in the future." Blue said as they shook hands.

"Yea I feel the same. I don't know very many people and it's good to make some new friends." Naruto said back.

"And don't worry we will keep the secret safe until it gets out." Sayomi said.

"Yea later Naruto. Maybe next time we can have that fight." Kodama said.

"I look forward to it." And with that they parted ways.

* * *

Next up Naruto will start his life as a ninja and things will start to pick up speed. I hope. I seem to draw things out a little bit. I feel like the length of this chapter is pretty good anbd I will try to keep it between this and chapter two. Myself I hate too short chapters but also I strongly disslike when they are too long as it's difficult two find where you are in a chapter when reading on your phone and android has a tendency to reload the damn pages if you exit the browser. Even if its around 3800 words this chapter it's still longer than the longest essay I've ever written. not sure if that reflects on my writing or school ethics. Won't take many chapters before I've written more here than during my entire high school years. XD


	4. Chapter 4

It's addicting to write once you start. I've been having ideas for stories so long that now that I finally sit down and write I can't stop. It blows when you have to leave for work.

* * *

Naruto's first weeks of service had been interesting to put it in a diplomatic way. He had been on a couple of missions so far but nothing really interesting. His first had been with with another team where he replaced a sick member. They had been a boring bunch. Apparently they were a close nit group with a dry sense of humor and mostly internal jokes. He had tried to connect with them but in the end resigned himself to polite friendliness and just endured their travel. It was a routine mission to a permanent outpost to pick up low priority reports and messages in the northern parts of the land of Lightning.

At Least he got to see more of the country. Land of Fire didn't lack mountains and interesting features but he had never had the chance to see the world outside Konoha so he only knew the nearby forests and mountains. Here there were still forests but many more mountains. There was waterfalls and raging rivers. They had passed the more mountainous regions that were connected to the mountain range where Kumogakure lay and he had awed at the huge valleys they had passed where most people lived in this part of the land. They farmed and provided nad in the more remote regions most people supported himself by mining and surrounding industries.

It had taken them five days both ways, and one night resting at the outpost. They wasn't able to travel as quickly as more experienced ninja and because of the low priority they had stuck to the lower valleys instead of the more dangerous mountain passes.

During the days he was back he had joined the regular exercise and quickly got absorbed in the routine. He had hung out some with his new friends when their schedules overlapped and which were the high points of his days. He had been surprised to find out more elegant of the three, Idane, liked rock climbing and been showed some great places to climb around the village. There were some great places and a lot of people enjoyed the challenge to scale the cliffs without chakra.

He had gotten a new blade too. It was nothing special just a straight katana but he liked the feel when it was on his back. Admittedly he had gotten it not because it would fit in with the way he fought but because he thought it looked cool and wanted to fit in. It was hard to adapt using a long blade and in close combat your moves were a bit limited and you had to watch out so you didn't slice up your allies but he extra reach reduced the risk of being hurt himself, especially if the opponent used a shorter blade like a kunai or tanto.

He hadn't seen any combats and all his others missions had been either escorts where nothing happened or short missions where he guarded nobles. He had been tagging along chunins and single jounins on those and at least their company had been better than the only genins he had worked with so far. Chunins tended to switch more with who they worked so they generally were more social when working with comrades they hadn't been with before.

The noble guarding missions were extremely boring and on the first one he had been teamed with J probably because he was the one he was the most carefully of his behaviour around. A majority of them were extremely low risk but payed well to the village as it was considered a status symbol to be able to afford ninjas even for mundane meetings and short range travel among the nobles and not because they usually needed the protection. Not that he had been allowed to slack of anyway but the closest thing to any action had been when a servant girl had stumbled into him when he walked around a manor.

He had changed his outfit a little bit to reflect him moving on from just training to being an actual ninja. He opted out from the coarse materials to go with something a little softer and easier to move in. Usually he wore black pants or dark gray once but he also had some that was a deep green. He had a pair of boots that was suitable for most situations and worked well in the mountains. They wouldn't be the best for the coldest places but at least he wouldn't lose any toes in a matter of hours and for where it was warmer he would only be uncomfortable and he still had a pair of lighter shoes and sandals.

He also had an assortment of shirts in similar colors but he hadn't found an orange version of the different sashes that was so popular. He had tried wrapping orange cloth around if to see how it would look but had quickly abandoned that idea because it just didn't fit.

It was so different from Konoha where he had screamed for attention but here where he was treated well and was treated similar to so many others it became more important for him to fit in. At first it had come mostly from being scared and confused from being thrown into a new place and didn't want to bust the chance he had gotten but then it had instead become his new normal.

He had found a pair of open gloves with knuckle padding with orange inlays and inside which he thought were nice and went with those instead. Taking J's advice to choose carefully.

Sunglasses had not panned out, apparently he just looked stupid and Sayomi said that it didn't fit him and he shouldn't hide his eyes. She had said that they were such an important mark of who he were and that they were so expressive that it would dull him and he definitely didn't want to become dull. He had asked what she thought about a face mask instead but then she said that also his whiskers were such an important trademark of his that he would only diminish himself.

He had been down about not finding anything cool to wear but having honest friends he could rely on for advice far outweighed the lack of maneuverability when it came to his gear.

* * *

Naruto had come back late morning from a short investigative mission that had been a lot more interesting than what he had previously been on when he had been grabbed by B. He had been excited as he would finally begin his jinchuuriki training. And then it felt like someone had kicked him in the balls.

"You want me to do what?"

"Be calm and still like the morning spring yo."

"But there has to be another way." he whined.

"There ain't no other way fool. Your body and mind has to be one."

"But why meditating? I thought that I would have to be super strong to control kyuubi's power." He like a child who just had been told that christmas had been canceled and replaced by school.

"To access the might of the nine all must align."

Naruto felt his blood pulsating as he was getting angry, the complete opposite of what he was supposed to be doing but this rhyming was getting too much even for him.

"That doesn't even makes sense!"

"Fool I told you that your body and mind has to be one. You need to be calm, that's the first step. Then you will be able to make contact with it. Then and only then you can start to battle your inner demons."

"I get that but to do that I have to be strong not wasting time sitting here doing nothing."

"But you won't be doing nothing and I ain't bluffing and your god damn whining is getting disgusting. yo! And with battle that was not what I meant I won't tolerate your dissent and if you don't relent your knowledge I must supplement."

"Fine I give but can you just please explain how this will help me?"

"The step you will later have to overcome isn't a fight with your bijju, at first you must conquer your inner darkness and if your body and mind isn't one it will take over. After that you must face the kyuubi and it may take many years before you are ready."

"Okay I think I understand but why couldn't you just say so?"

"I did but you just acted like a little kid."

"Didn't, you just told me to sit down and be calm and handed me this towel." Naruto felt his ire rise again.

B suddenly got a serious look on his face.

" you are a cool kid but if you don't follow these steps you will die along the way. This was the path I walked and now you must also walk it."

"Yea yea I think I get it I relent. But this is going to suck." Naruto finally sat down in a lotus position as he tried to meditate. Needless to say it didn't go very well. He got distracted by everything around him, by his breathing, by his thoughts and vene the feeling of the sun on him but he persevered and he didn't give up. He started counting seconds and then caught himself doing so and started focus on his breathing but as soon as he was centering himself something else got to him but at least he was on the right track. He didn't notice how much time passed and even all the distractions and being unable to center himself he kept his eyes closed and stayed with his mind. But when he heard B speak with someone his concentration was completely shattered.

"Hey you two stop talking I can't focus!" He yelled at them to where they were several meters away.

"It's fine nine you have been at it enough."

"Really? "Naruto said as he stood up. "How long have I been sitting here?" As to respond to his question he felt his stomach grumbling indicating that it was way past lunch time already.

"B who's he?" The young woman who appeared to be two or three years older than himself asked.

"That's mr nine who I'm trying to with my training refine." B never was the most subtle of people and especially around those whom he considered himself to be close with but if she picked up on what he meant she didn't show it.

Naruto picked up his blade and walked up to them.

"Hi I'm Naruto! Nice to meet you!"

"Samui. Say can you handle yourself with your sword?"

"Not really, I recently picked it up but I know that you stab people with the pointy end." He said with a big bright smile.

"We'll have to spar then sometime once you know how to use it. Good day Naruto-san, B."

Naruto was taken aback with her attitude. "Is she always so short with people?" He asked.

"You are not delirious she is always just serious lets go and eat I could feel for some meat." B rapped on instead of giving him a normal answer but he trailed after the eight-tailed jinchuuriki anyway, he was really hungry.

* * *

"Origami?" A dumbfounded voice which belongs to Naruto said.

"Yes."

"My clan was famous for folding paper cranes?" He sounded deflated and defeated.

"No child, the one thing they were most famed of was their fuinjutsu." The soft dry voice said.

"But what was that to do with fuinjutsu?"

"Ahh you see one of the few things that they brought that people picked up was one of their beliefs in how chakra works. Tell me child how much do you know about fuinjutsu."

"Not a lot." Naruto said a ashamed.

"That's not surprising it's a common held belief that fuinjutsu is one of the hardest arts to learn and still harder to master. Those who do are very rare and their knowledge considered arcane."

"How do you picture it in your mind when you use your chakra?" The man said.

Naruto scrounged his face a bit as he thought about it. "Well at first I grab hold of it and when I mould it It's like I'm pouring it through the seals." He contemplated on how he actually did it and grabbed hold of his chakra while shadowing out some hand seals in the air. He tested to pour it through the first seals of a henge and felt how it changed when a light lit up in his head. "It's exactly like origami!" He yelled in excitement. "I'm not making a mold to shape it I'm folding it!"

A warm smile spread over the mans face at the boy's enlightenment. "Yes, you grasped it far easier than I thought you would and that is exactly what we do with it. When you train to use one handed seals or reducing the number you have to go through for a jutsu what you really do is train yourself to fold it without using your tenketsu in your hands to give shape."

"Wow that's is amazing!"

"And can you tell me why this information is important?"

Naruto thought about it but had trouble to find an answer to the question but got frustrated when he didn't find any.

"I can see that it troubles you to not being able to arrive to a conclusion so I'll tell you. If you know how it works then it's easier to both learn new jutsu as well as create new ones."

"I get it." He smiled.

"It has been theorised that this is what gives the famed sharingan it's prowess to copy techniques. It can see chakra which allows them to see the folds and how the jutsu works. Combined with the ability to seemingly recall everything they see with it perfectly it's out hypothesis that their mind recreates the folding for them when they see someone use hand signs and thusly allowing them the ability to copy and steal techniques."

Naruto was taking it all in, he had never considered that this kind of academic knowledge could be so alluring. He had just recently learned how knowledge could be applied and of value but this was even more fascinating.

The man continued on. "Can you tell me how this folding then can be applied to fuuinjutsu?"

"Isn't it just like replacing the the seals we make with our hands with paper and ink?" He asked, he knew it was a naive way to see it but that was the only answer he could come up with.

"In one way yes, you can say that we replace the medium we work with but when we use chakra ourself we are working with organic structures, paper and ink are inanimate entities."

"If you go back to the origami metaphor for comparison it's easy to learn to fold simple things. But take a building or a machine, it's made of many different parts that then are put together. Individually they can be simple but put together they make a complex whole. We can take the different parts and put together forming many different structures."

"Oh." Naruto said. "I think I understand." He said solemnly. "If I wanted to create an origami house I couldn't just fold the different parts individually I would have to do it one go and that would make the process different and most likely unrecognizable compared with just assembling different pieces."

"Yes and that's why it's so difficult to create ninjutsu but especially so with fuuinjutsu. The arrays we create change and take their final form when chakra is applied and if it's done incorrectly and the final form isn't compatible with the array it will misfire. The results can be anything from no effect at all or catastrophic and in those cases death can be considered the easy way out."

Naruto paled a little. "And my clan were experts? When you told me they used fuinjutsu my first reaction were that they were a bunch of pansies."

The old man chuckled. "Yes and that's another reason so few take up fuinjutsu. It's difficult and doesn't bring you much respect unless you are extremely good and even then it doesn't get as much recognition."

"Thank you Fumio-ojisama I must go but it was an honour to learn about my clan from you." He said it with all the formality and stiffness Eiko had instilled in him.

"No need to be so formal child, I'm an academic and it's always appreciated when I can share my knowledge. If you wish to broaden your mind more or learn the arts come back and see me, you know where to find me." The old man smiled.

"I will see you later!"

* * *

Naruto was busy brushing his teeth and otherwise just preparing for a new day. He had slept in as it had been a late when he had come home from a mission to a nearby village. He was disturbed by frantic knocking on his door. It as his friend Kodama that was almost busting the hinges as he knocked.

"Have you heard what has happened!"

"No but the whole building must have heard you.!"

Kodama pushed his pay past Naruto into the apartment where he threw himself on the bed.

"I overheard some people talking, it's the buzz right now!" Kodama said all excited.

"Yes please come in, make yourself at home, maybe you want some refreshments prepared for your enjoyment?" Naruto replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I'm not joking this is big!"

"Out with it then!" Naruto replied and closed the door just to have it wrenched open by Sayomi.

"Hey Naruto you won't believe what has happened!" She said.

A bewildered Naruto could do nothing to stop her from entering. "What is it with you people today taking freedoms with my home!" He sounded irritated but he was actually happy to have such good friends that came to see him.

But they were still annoying.

"Oi Kodama didn't know you were here!" She said and jumped at the bed eliciting a yelp from said boy as he drew his legs to himself to avoid getting them crush by the lively kunoichi.

"Aren't your kind supposed to be more graceful?" He sniffed indignantly.

"What do you mean my kind?" She asked, being curious and inquisitive in nature as well as generally excited by what she had come to tell Naruto she didn't realise that it was a trap.

"You know, kunoichi. I know you act like a thug but you are a girl right?"

She blinked at him once, then twice before she jumped at him trying to smother him to death with a pillow. Naruto felt for his poor bed.

He tried yelling at them to break it up but they didn't listen and it was time to channel his inner prankster. Those linen would need to be changed anyway after the havoc wrought upon them.

Naruto grabbed a glass and filled it up with cold water. He mumbled. "Final warning." Before throwing it on them.

The effect came immediately with a shrill shriek from Sayomi but Kodama wasn't much better. They looked angry and confused as if they couldn't fathom what they had done to deserve something like that.

"If you are done can you get to the point? Why are you thrashing my place?"

They were both about to protest and plead their innocence when there was an angry knock on the door.

"If you are going to have a threesome then keep it down!"

Not a squeak came from them as an awkward silence descended on the room as three pairs of cheeks got rosy.

"Please just tell me what this is all about?"

They looked at each other and Kodama nodded to Sayomi who spoke.

"Konoha was invaded."

* * *

The last chapter brought total word count including A/N up to over 15000 and the story contained 3746 unique words. This chapter brought that number up to 4018 unique words giving me a **Δ**w of 272.

I hope I got my view on how fuinjutsu works forward. A long time I viewed it as I view programming , break it down in to combonents and modules and combine them to create more advanced structures and modules. I've realised it doesn't really fit and is a bit too stiff as well as easy to abuse and doesn't give a plausible explanation as to why it seems as such an difficult art. I still rely on this model a little bit but I try to view it as more organic.

The story is about to take off be more diverse since so far it has just been building up Naruto, the support characters and trying to present my view on this Kumogakure.

I hope you like it and please review and let more know what you think! What you like and hate or if there is something you wish to have know more about or I have overlooked! :)


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto tensed up as those words rang out in the apartment, all the joy of having his friends over leaving him. Between the pictures of a broken and burning Konoha that his mind conjured up he stammer out. "What happened?"

"It's quite sketchy but everyone I've overheard seems to agree that it was Suna that betrayed them during the chunin exams."

"Same here." Kodama said. " I know that some are saying that Konoha is burning but more say that they won."

"Sure but this sort of things are the kind of stuff that starts wars, I know that we have gone to war for less."Sayomi chirped in.

Kodama took a harsh tone to his voice. "Smooth Sayomi-chan I'm trying to be a good pal here and you go off sounding like the friggin shinigami. Go sacrifice a goat will you?"

She looked both hurt and sad as his words seemed to hit deeper than their usual quibbling.

"Thanks guys but my place is here now and I can't do anything about it, I'm just happy I got friends like you that care." Naruto said to avoid further arguing, or bloodshed because that would be a pain to clean up.

"I'm sorry Naruto I didn't mean to be inconsiderate and just wanted to tell you before anyone else did." She felt ashamed of her actions, she always put her foot in her mouth but most of the time the worst consequences was that someone, usually Kodama would argue with her.

"Thanks Sayomi." He sighed and sat down between them on his bed and lay back with his hands behind his head. "Man I don't know how to deal with this, it's not my concern unless Kumo gets roped in somehow but I feel like I should do something. It's so confusing."

They remained there until Naruto had a brilliant idea. "Have you ever had sake?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

There was an air of both anxiety and excitement when the raikages council convened. Their regular meetings didn't tend to last long and rarely discussed things of this magnitude. A wasn't even upset of being in a meeting for once.

"I think it's clear what we should do!" One of the youngest members said. "We must strike now when they are weak and claim our place as the strongest."

A just gruffed and decided to let this once play out, he had a mind to throw him out for that anserine comment but it would be too bothersome right now.

"Fool, you barely saw anything of the last war and wish to plunge the entire continent into chaos again. All reports we have indicate that they won the battle within the day, they may be weaken but they will be weary of attacks and even as we speak they surely prepare for the worst. An attack when we lack information or even a real reason for why it would benefit us would be disastrous." A middle aged woman took up the battle so that he didn't have to.

"No it's you who are being a fool, we have their jinchuuriki which gives us three when they have none, attacking now would benefit us!"

"Again you are shortsighted and lack insight." One of the oldest said.

"Ruling out action or how we can take advantage of this is foolish but acting without preparation even worse. In the short term we might become singlehandedly the strongest of nations but that won't remain uncontested. If the only justification for an attack is to become the strongest we will be seen as an aggressor and a threat. What if the other nations form up? Lock our ninja out? We could be drawn into a war of attrition and our economy starved. "

"Besides the young jinchuuriki is untested and his loyalty yet to be firmly shackled here, when he inevitably in the future will meet Konoha nin he can't be unsure of where his loyalties lies and sending him to fight against those who were his own before he has bled for his comrades and his comrades bled for him could cost us a strategic asset." The finality of the old man's words closed the matter.

But the young hothead either didn't read the mood or didn't care.

"And what about Iwa, they will jump on a chance to take down Konoha. Should we just leave all the spoils to them?"

"Enough! You shame yourself by continuing to plague us with this garbage. The Tsuchikage holds no fond feelings for Konoha but he won't do something so unpromt. Onoki of both scales will not want bloodshed for his people, he may prod their smaller allies but unless he has something of substance to gain he won't risk it."

A put his fist on the table silencing the ongoing discussion. "I've decided we will wait and see what the fallout from this invasion is before we do anything. I want you to inform the group commanders spread it among their ranks that we are not going to war."

"I want to know exactly what happened and increase our border patrols. We will not provoke them at his time but increase forward scouting operations operating from the land of Hotsprings. If there are any large troop movements in our sphere of influence I want to know it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yesterday it had seemed to be such a great idea to go and drink, J had said that it was a popular way to distract yourself from your troubles. They had a lot of fun and his friends had kept him distracted. They had seen Idane walking by with his sister but he had declined their invitation.

He had been on top of the world! Today he felt like he was cast down in the sewer. He rolled to his side, causing pain to jolt through his head.

He was certain that the son of a bitch of a sensei had left this part out by design. He'd be damned before he let J know about his current situation.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

He was damned.

Again someone knocked on his door, he reluctantly wrangled on a shirt and opened his door, not expecting to see the person on the otherside. At least it wasn't someone loud.

"Good day Naruto-san you have been recruited for a mission." It was Samui who

He suppressed a groan, just his luck to get a mission when he felt like crap.

"What's the duration?" He asked.

"Mid-length, a few weeks are expected.

This time he did groan. "When does the team leave?"

"We were supposed to leave this morning but one team member isn't available, you were chosen as his replacement. The team is already waiting by the south gate."

Naruto wanted to bang his head against the wall but in his current state it would hurt way more than he was willing to accept. "Okay. you go ahead and I'll meet you there I've to pack and gear up."

She just nodded and left to return to her team.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Where is this guy!? We should have traveling south now!"

"Cool it down Karui when I went to his apartment it looked like he had just woken up."

"Stupid Omoi. stupid lazy ass replacements!" The girl Karui said to no one particular.

"Don't fret, he will soon be part of this quartet." B said.

"Some ninja he must be who sleeps until noon." Karui grumbled.

A bit up the road from where they were Naruto was dragging his feet towards the gate, he wished that he had gotten a pair of glasses because the light stung his eyes and maybe he should have gotten some earplugs for all the infernal noises that was the result of a bustling ninja village located between peaks and valleys that was as made for amplifying noise.

"Yo don't worry mr. nine is almost here." B said and gestured towards his direction.

The lounging girls looked up to see the sorry sight he was as he slowly got closer to them. The pathetic sight got even worse when he was closer and looked up and was horrified to see that this mission was on a team with B. Kami what deity had it out for him.

He waved at them when he finally was there and took a swipe from a bottle to try and clear out some more of the horrid taste in his of hangover from his mouth.

"Are you sick or something?" Karui said in a condescending voice.

"I'm not sick but it - does feel like my head got kicked." Ha hadn't really intended for it to rhyme or sound as he was copying B but the words got caught in his throat and gave it the same failed rapper feel.

Karui's eyes widened. Kami-sama there are two of them.

"What's ailing you so we can fix it and stop snailing yo?" B rapped out.

Naruto mumbled something that only Samui managed to hear and raised an eyebrow.

"Can't hear you!" The aggressive one said.

"I said I got drunk yesterday."

Again Karui looked shock before turning and walking off south. "Lazy ass rapping mother fucking drunkards, I almost wish Omoi was here instead."

B started off after her.

"That's kinda a cool." Samui said as they tried to catch up with B and Karui.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They had traveled late in to the night to catch up some of the lost time and could finally rest. The worst of Naruto's ailments had abated as they ran across the terrain but was left with a persisting nausea.

He was laying on the ground with his hands behind his head starting up in the sky, the others was in similar positions or sat with their backs against a tree.

He didn't like Karui so much, she had nice golden eyes but he disliked people who judge others and she had also seemed prone to anger. But he wasn't unfriendly towards her,that would have been hypocritical of him.

"Why were you drinking yesterday?" It was Samui.

He turned his head towards the tree where she sat. "It felt like a good idea at the time."

"I was with some friends and tried to distract myself from.. things."

"The invasion?"

"Yea, when I got my hitai-ite J-sensei took me for a drink of sake. I didn't like it very much and asked why someone would drink it. He gave me several reason and one was to distract oneself, another was to have fun with your friends. He never told me about the side effects." Naruto grimaced

B sat there listening and nodded to himself at the words from his fellow Jinchuuriki before injecting his view in to the conversation. "You gotta be careful with the drink or you'll be down in the stink."

"Wait why would you need to be distracted about that?" Karui asked since she didn't know much about him.

"He's from Konoha, he was probably worried about the people there." Samui replied.

"How did you know that?" Naruto asked her, a little surprised.

"When B-sensei called you mr. nine I asked him about you."

"Oh" He said, sounding a little defensive. He was still somewhat touchy about being a jinchuuriki and having people know about it and he was certain that she knew, she was sharp.

"Don't worry, it's cool."

"What's cool, why did B-baka no sensei call you ?" Karui asked.

"I'm a jinchuuriki."

"Oh…" "...what!?"


	6. Chapter 6

A little more action in this chapter. This time my wife read it and did some corrections before I uploaded it.

* * *

"You suck." It was said af if a fact.

"Hey It's not my fault this mission is boring!" Naruto answered Karui.

"No but you just don't stop complaining about." She said.

They had arrived at the largest island directly south of the coast of the land of Lightning two days ago and since then paired up to investigate increased activity in the area.

"But I was promised missing nin, do you see any missing nin? The only thing that's missing is some screws at the intelligence department." Naruto had been in a bad mood ever since dragged off on this mission. He had continuously butted heads with Karui.

"You were never promised anything you shit!" She growled. "The mission said it might be missing nin. But whoever was here was scared away by your damn whining."

It wasn't that he liked complaining but it was so easy to rile up Karui and not much else to do.

"Don't say that you like walking around in circles finding nothing. I didn't peg you for the boring type."

"I'm not boring! But atleast I try to act like a ninja doing my mission."

"I'm fully capable of doing my work I can multitask!" He grinned at her.

"I can do that too!"

"Is that why you just stepped in deer droppings?"

Her step faltered and she looked down. "What!?"

"Hehe got you!" Naruto laughed at her expense.

"Grr, I can't believe that I miss Omoi. I hate you!"

"Your boyfriend again?" Naruto tried to look innocent with his head slightly turned to his side and eyes closed.

"That's it you going to get it!" She was about to charge him but was interrupted.

"Who's going to get what?" Samui asked as she landed next to them.

"Hey Samui!" Naruto grinned. "I think Karui is going to dump Omoi because she's hitting on me."

"I'm not hitting on you, I'm trying to hit you!"

"Keyword, trying."

"Break it off, I'm here to bring you to B-sensei, we found something." Samui reluctantly ended the argument but the mission was more important than her own amusement.

"And we found you!" A voice said as a hail of kunai and shurikens rained down on them.

* * *

Samui was struggling, the fight had not gone well so far. When one of Naruto's clones had taken a hit for her that would have been fatal she had frozen. She thought it was the real him, it was only when it burst in to smoke and she realised that it was a clone she started to move again but kunai had managed to slice her side. It was different to be in a real life or death situation compared to a spar. Here the pain and damage would slow you down and when you lost that would be it.

The wound wasn't too deep but it stung fiercely and from the rapid movements as she dodged and parried incoming attacks it got torn open more and more in small increments. The clones where being to to shreds too quickly. She made a swipe as one of her aggressors did a dive towards her but it was deflected. Another clone divided between them. ´Damn it, we won't last much longer.'

* * *

Karui was swearing as if possessed 'These mother fuckers are just toying with me.'

It was difficult to see what was happening around her or even to locate her opponents as there was clones everywhere and attacks coming from trees above down at them.

"Damn you cowards face me!" She screamed as she had to dodge another attack.

"If you are so eager to die then I'd gladly oblige." One of the masked ninja said as he landed in front of her. She didn't have time to say anything before she had to defend herself.

He wore dark clothes and grey armor with his white porcelain mask had a red stripe down the middle that was only separated into two at the middle of the forehead where the Kirigakure symbol was proudly displayed. He held twin tanto in reverse grip and slashed wildly at her.

He displayed incredible skill with his blades and easily handled her as well as the droves of clones that came to help her. He pushed her backwards and despite fending off her aid it felt too her like she was completely alone

He kept toying with her and skillfully kept adding up small nicks at her arms weakening her strength and ability to defend herself further.

A clone tried to scream out a warning to her but she didn't have time to react as an attack penetrated the clone with enough force to continue. It felt like she was hit with a boulder as a glob of water smashed in to her side bruising her and almost cracking a few ribs.

A whip like water construct snared around her left arm, clinging around it and twisting her skin. She gritted her teeth as it felt like the skin was peeling off and as the pressure was building as if it would break it.

Another clone slashed with its sword and severed the whip but the backlash dispelled it. It was too late for her arm as it snapped. She screamed. Had the clone not managed to do what it did her arm would have been severed.

* * *

It wasn't going well on Naruto's end either. He had avoided most hits but his blood was boiling from adrenaline. He knew he was outmatched but he couldn't give up. His eyes trailed his opponent that was circling him like a predator. The attacks came quickly and then back to a standstill.

At this rate he would lose, unable to outlast the damn hunter nin. The wounds that were constantly adding up would get to him too quickly and his clones cut down almost as quickly as he could make them.

He strained himself further than ever before, evading and dodging, blocking and parrying yet new cuts were being added. He grunted as a kick lifted him into the air and the only saving grace was a clone which barreled into him and took the sword instead. He rolled to his feet and spit out the blood that was pooling in his mouth.

"Kuso you bastard."

"Finally reaching your end? Don't worry kid I'm sure your friends will die eventually. When my comrades are done cutting them to pieces." It wasn't difficult for Naruto to envision a deranged evil smile behind the mask.

"I won't forgive you!" Naruto brought up his fingers and created several clones which rushed his attacker. "Why are you attacking us!?"

"Fu fu, we couldn't' just let such good entertainment slip us by. Hunting refugees can be so tedious. They barely put up any resistance when you kill them."

Naruto just gritted his teeth and continued his assault but the hunter nin just kept mocking him by dodging and picking off clones with humiliating ease. The memories from his clones where slowly coalesced giving him a picture of how all the battles were going.´Kuso why didn't I realise sooner that they are separating us. Samui and Karui are in trouble I need to get back.´

He created even more clones, an almost obscene amount to be able to distract and keep the enemy occupied. He had gotten pretty far away and sprinted along the trees to where they originally were attacked. He stopped in a branch and quickly appraised the situation.

Samui and Karui were separated some distance apart from each other. The amount of clones they had with them were dwindling and their opponents were darting around among the trees and clones taunting them by slowly weakening them as his own opponent had done. His focus was on Samui as she seemed to be clutching her side but from the amount of blood it wasn't too deep or lifethreatining in its own.

His focus was janked to Karui as he heard her scream and he saw the smoke from dispelled clones as she went to her knees. He hurriedly went towards her and jumped to her side spawning fresh clones to protect them.

* * *

Samui heard Karui's scream some distance away but couldn't dare let that distract her from her own fight. 'This is not cool, Karui you better be alright.'

They rarely showed themselves and stuck to the surrounding trees and foliage. The last Naruto clones had changed their fighting to better fit their dwindling numbers and was much more careful to not be dispelled. Only sacrificing themselves when it was an attack that would seriously hurt her.

She barely deflect a kunai but it wasn't enough and it managed to tear a nasty cut on her arm when she was joined by another Naruto that was supporting Karui. She saw the many cuts mostly to her arms and the broken limb but was relieved to see that she was alive. Karui was whimpering in pain but in her right arm she still held her Katana.

Instead of being met with more kunai their attackers showed themselves and surrounded them. Standing in a rough circle.

"It's time to end this, you were much more interesting to fight than green genin but there isn't much more amusement to gain from this." The leader in the red mask Naruto had been fighting drawled. She didn't know if the fight had finally caught up with her or he just was that fast but she barely saw him going through a sequence of hand seals.

A thick mist quickly formed in front of him and it soon became small blobs of water and the others also started going through almost the same seals.

"I'm sorry Karui but you have to stand on your own." Naruto said. She nodded but he didn't catch it as he was already in the process of his own signature move.

"This is it, genin. You can't escape our combined attack. It will be slow and painful for you."

The clones tried to charge them but the mist and water had formed a dome that pushed them back. Their attacks were futile and they were soon all pressed tightly as the dome was filled with water of increasing pressure.

They were all floating in the water and soon Naruto's clones started dispelling not able to stand the attack. He couldn't move and was frantically watching as the air was slowly being pressed from Karui and Samui. He tried to come up with some way to break them free but as the seconds quickly turned to double digits he saw his teammates looks of resigned defeat as they accepted their fate. "Kuso I can't let them die like this!'

He tried to do the only thing there was left to do but as his vision grew spotty he couldn't seem to grasp the fox's power. Desperation grew with in him as he to was slowly realising defeat. He could feel the taunting anger within him just out of reach. 'Why can't I do anything!' He screamed within his mind as he finally managed to reach the malevolent chakra within him. As he tried to draw on it his vision went blank and then he found himself somewhere else.

It was damp and quite dark where he found himself. It looked like a sewer with pipes running along the walls. It looked like a nightmare. "Am I dead?" He thought but was surprised when he heard his own voice throughout the place.

He looked around trying to identify where it had come from but nothing there was no clues.

"Hello?" Again his own voice surrounded him. He started walking, not sure why, why was he here? Didn't he die? No that was not it.

He followed the warmth that seemed to get stronger until it felt almost like being in a rainforest. It was the oppressive heat and moisture that made you wish for a cold winter day instead. Time was irrelevant, how long had he been here? Where did he come from, what had happened?

He walked inside a huge chamber divided by giant iron bars with a thin slip of paper with the word seal on it. He remembered. He had been fighting, it was going bad, really bad. They were dying and he tried to use his bijuu, it all came back to him.

"Did you bring me here fox?" He had remembered what B had said about meditating and making contact with his biju. The inner mindscape he had called it. The goal of his meditation was to access it.

He tried to feel his chakra, it was there but it felt weird. Instead of the usual unrelenting force that could be drawn through his tenketsu it felt numbed and the chamber was filled with a purple glow. He saw the pipes, many of which left the chamber from where he had come and through the walls and roof glow blue. The pipes that went inside the cage glowed red and together it mixed into the purple.

"**You dare try to draw my power!"** A deep dark growl stated from inside the cage as two large red slitted eyes looked down on him.

"**So weak even with what's already flowing within you taken from me by force. Yet you seek more."**

He had trouble standing on his own feet as the chamber shook by the force of the voice. The pipes inside the cage now flooding the area in red light illuminating the giant fox.

"I need your power or else I'm going to die!" Naruto screamed at the giant incarnation of evil.

"**Is that what you tell yourself? That you need it? I could snap your bones and kill you with ease. You train yourself to try to use what's mine for your own purpose. You. A tiny mortal human."**

"Yea I train but it wasn't my choice that you are sealed within me. I was given this, not by my own choice but I will master you kyuubi to protect those I care about!"

"**Is that so? It's not by choice that my power flows throughout you but if it's a taste of what I can do you want then I won't stop you. I'll enjoy it as the hate consumes you to destroy those around you. It will destroy you. In the end you will protect no one and I will be set free." **

Naruto wasn't aware of time or that he was still trying to draw on the fox outside his mind. It was he who had pulled himself inside his own mind and as the biju chakra replaced his own throughout his body he found himself again the the waking world.

His eyes were red with black slits, his appearance feral. Nails elongated into claws and his face split in a grin revealing his fanged teeth. The hunter nins were shocked as red chakra was bubbling out from him and as it interfered with their jutsu they were momentarily stunned from the force that hit them as it destabilised.

Naruto didn't hesitate to charge the leader that had previously mocked them and as anger and rage filled him he was a blur of kicks and punches. The mask broke under the force of a vicious punch that broke the nose of the hunter nin but he kept pummeling the man. Three kunai soared through the air towards him courtesy of a female ninja but he spun himself around along with his victim making him take them all in to the hilt in his back. If the pummeling hadn't done its job he would die from the deep nasty wound the kunai made.

Naruto snarled and charged at her but was blocked by a blade which nearly skewered him giving the woman time to spit out a globe of water that hit him in the chest. It wasn't enough to do damage to him but gave the last two hunters time to finish a long series of seals for their technique. "Suiton: diamond piercing pressure."

Two thin sprouts of water formed and descended on Naruto which didn't have time to react. It kept drilling in to him as he was forced several dozen meters away and into a tree. He barely felt any pain but was struggling to focus. His senses dimmed and head spinning he tried to focus on the enemy.

He saw them checking on their teammates and one was moving towards his own downed comrade with a drawn kunai. He snarled as he saw that blanking out any other sensory input as he let the last vestiges of conscious thought leave him and allowed the burning rage to take over.

His feet moved on his own as he took one step first as more chakra formed around him. Two steps and it was almost solid with the beginnings of a tail forming. Three steps he was already sprinting with a full tail. As he pushed of on the fourth step the area was blanketed with the oppressive hateful feeling that came with the power of kyuubi as two tails swished behind him.

It barely took him any time at all as he was sprinting on all fours towards the enemy that had frozen in its step and Naruto barreled straight in to him. They rolled around on the ground from the momentum and Naruto tore at him for all his worth and his tails threw up dirt in the air. Naruto was feral, consumed by the hate he felt towards the man, he didn't even know why as there was only hate.

Soon Naruto's victim stopped thrashing and lay still with his throat cut open and covered in nasty cuts and burns. At first there was a moment of confusion as he couldn't comprehend what was happening but the sound if the man's comrades drew his gaze.

It was now clear to them that they were facing a jinchuuriki, no one else would be able to survive the attack that had hit the boy and if not for the pure resilience he was showing the red chakra and tails was a dead give away. They were not meant to fight one of those, they may be able to take down almost any jonin ranked ninja save for those few at the top with a S rank but jinchuuriki was something else. They had screwed up their mission and had to figure out some way to minimise damages and try to survive.

It was hard to not cover in fear at the look of the boy even though they were veterans. Their situation got even worse when another presence made itself known by landing in the field between them and the jinchuuriki.

He wasn't clad in the same chakra coat as the boy was but they knew he was a jinchuuriki. Any ninja past their rookie genin days should know about the eight tailed jinchuuriki.

"Naruto stand down!" He bellowed, all his usual laid back and jovial nature completely gone.

Naruto didn't understand him, he was reduced to mostly anger, hate and primal instincts and to him this newcomer was just an intruder that stood between him and his pray. He snarled and prepared to fight in a crouched position, hands touching the ground and ready to pounce.

To the hunter nins dismay the eight tailed jinchuuriki also gained the same cloak and flooded the area with an even stronger presence than the boy. Only with this it wasn't the free flowing raging madness that promised death and chaos. It was controlled and tempered and even worse because it was as free flowing. It was direct straight at the people around him.

As he locked eyes with Naruto he didn't even have to say anything as he pulsed his strength up with the full eight tails flowing around him. With the feral mindset Naruto had he understood that this person stood above him in the pecking order. That was enough of a jolt for him to slowly regain control and as B turned back his attention to the hunter nins Naruto was working hard to suppress the chakra and feelings that had taken over.

He stood there fighting his inner turmoil with closed eyes and when the power finally receded he fell to his knees panting. He regained his breath and looked up, his hair was matted down over his forehead and he brushed it to the side. He saw B checking over his students, he could only see his back and could'nt see on B's reaction if they were alright. He also saw the remain hunter nins subdued. They had been knocked unconscious and tied up.

Naruto got up and walked towards B, he stopped a few meters behind him. "Are they…?"

He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence as tears was welling up in his eyes.

B turned his head and took a good look on Naruto. He had two large holes in the front of his clothes and a large numbers of cuts and tears of different sizes and he was covered in blood. Both his own and from the two men he had slaughtered. It wasn't hard to figure that the drying blood around the holes in his clothes was his own but his hands almost completely painted a dark brownish red and along his arms and multitude of stains were from his enemies.

B smiled at him. "They are gonna be alright yo."

Naruto dropped to his knees and sagged from the exhaustion and relief. He let out a laugh as tears fell down his cheeks. He dropped on his back on to the still soggy ground from all the water that had been used there. "Then… ..then all this wasn't for nothing." Tears were still streaming down his cheeks. He knew what the powers of a jinchuuriki could do and that it was expected of him to use it but to tear someone's throat open with your bare hands out of rage was too gruesome to really comprehend. His comrades would still live, it hadn't been in vain.

"I sent up a flare and support will soon be here quick as a hare."

Naruto had almost no strength left but he managed to wriggle his hand inside a pocket on his right side and withdrew a protein bar, tearing the package open with his teeth he quickly chewed it down. Careful to not touch the bar with his bloody hands. It couldn't be many minutes that had passed when he heard several feet land around them and someone greet B that he allowed himself to lose consciousness.

* * *

**Mission debrief next time. Please review and let me know your thoughts on both the chapter and story so far!**


	7. Chapter 7

This chapter took a little longer to get done because I've been traveling back and forth a lot but was a lot of fun to write and is the second longest so far and I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

Naruto's body throbbed in pain, a searing soreness as if every single fiber was screaming in exertion but it felt dull and distant. He opened his eyes and was surprised to find himself not outside looking up in the sky or the inside of a house but the amer sewer like construct where he had met the Kyuubi.

'Better get this over with' He thought as he wandered towards the warm core deep inside. The large chamber where that bijuu was sealed gave him an eerie feeling which wasn't so unexpected considering that here he was closer than anywhere else to the mighty creature of hate and malevolence.

A dark chuckle blew a hot breath over him.

"**Tell me mortal how did my power feel."**

He was a little hesitant to speak with the bijuu, afraid that it would trick him somehow so he was a little reluctant to speak.

"I feel like my entire body is on fire." He said honestly after a few seconds.

"**Hahahaha, like a simple mortal could stand by might. Tell me did you enjoy crushing your enemies?" **The fox obviously enjoyed himself immensely, there wasn't much for him to do and he had little sense of time but now that his container had started drawing on his powers he could use this to work towards freedom. The discomfort the boy felt at this was obvious and it pleased the fox.

"No! I feel disgusted!" Naruto said defiantly.

"**You can't lie here Naruto, when you drew on my tails I could feel your emotions your elation at my power flowing through you."**

"Well yea. I felt invincible." He said meekly and the fox laughed in evil delight,

"**You can't stand against me, your body can't take it but your mind won't allow you to not draw it forth. You will slay your enemies and if we are lucky even your friends." **The fox chuckled. "**Then one day you will succumb and I will be free."**

"No! I will not hurt my friends or let you out dattebayo!"

A giant tail slammed against the bars of the cage. "**You dare defy the fate that lies before you mortal?"**

"I'll make my own fate, even if it means that I must lay down my life to protect my comrades!"

"**Then you are a fool for so willingly giving up your life!" **The fox raged.

"I never said I will give up but if I must I'll take whatever it takes! Even if I have to fight you myself to master you I will do it 'dattebayo!" He put a foot forward as he stood and stared at the fox.

"**Then do it, try to use my power! I will enjoy watching you destroy everything around you!" **Naruto was forced awake as the fox slammed multiple tails against the cage and sat right up in shock.

"Yo the fox wakes to greet the mighty ox!" Even being confused from suddenly waking up there was no mistaking killer B's rapping.

Naruto looked around and saw that he was in a small matt covered room with a single window letting in the last light of the day.

"How long have I been out?"

"You have been out for a few hours from using your powers." B nodded, obviously pleased with his successful rhyming.

"And where are we?"

"We are at this island's guard station while the team receives it's medication."

"Are Samui and Karui okay?"

"Don't fret all you three got was a little wet, the medic said they'll wake up in morning so feel free to do some exploration and see it as a small vacation."

* * *

He was surrounded by trees, he spun around in a circle and it all just became a green blur. Rain was falling and he could hear what sounded like rushing water. The trees looked like they were under water. Water was pooling around his feet.

"_Wake up!"_

More water fell on him, it was surrounding him, like a glass beaker made of water that was slowly filling up and with the sides shrinking, he was panicking.

"_I said wake up!"_

He looked up towards the sky and a massive amount of water was speeding down on him, it hit him with the power of a freight train pushing him down against the ground.

He sat up startled and spluttering, drenched his hair stuck to his head.

"Hey you are finally up lazy ass."

He looked at a pleased Karui holding an empty glass and a smirk plastered across her face. Samui was also there but did a better job hiding her mirth.

"Karui? Samui. It's good to see you are okay." He said in a somewhat subdued voice but which was easily overlooked at just being waked up.

"Thanks for saving us, B-sensei said that if it wasn't for you we'd be dead." Karui said. "Wait, you didn't do cpr or mouth to mouth did you?" She added, her eyes narrowed and honed in on him.

"That's cool."

"No I didn't. But now that you mention it I kinda wish I did." He leaned back, grinning, as Karui threw the glass at him but it just shattered harmlessly on the floor. "But I guess B did." He added thoughtfully.

Both girls froze up and several different emotions flickered across their faces. In Karui's case it was primarily anger and disgust. Samui was harder to read but, wait, was that excitement?

"Not a word about this." Karui growled out as she stormed out, Samui exited shortly after her and graced Naruto with a small smile and a nod. When the door closed he started laughing, it felt so surreal being here and just joking around when yesterday he had killed two men but at least this was something he could work with.

* * *

The prisoners had been collected by a black ops team and they had stayed another day to make sure their injuries wouldn't impede the journey or prove hazardous to their health. Therefore it took them longer than when they had set out on the mission as they threaded along, covered in bandages and in Karui's case also plaster.

Naruto wasn't in the best of moods, the actions of the battle still hanging over him and he was thankful for the silence that had settled over the group even though it was an awkward silence for both the girls. B had also read the mood and was unusually quiet, forgoing his rapping and just gave the necessary orders.

It was a great relief to all of them when they were finally back after being away for twelve days and were allowed to separate.

* * *

"Hey Ida how are you?"

"I'm good Kodama-san, how about you?" Idane replied.

"Mah why do you always have to be so formal aren't we buddies afteral?" Kodama said jokingly.

"Of Course, I will call you Kodama-kun instead."

Kodama cringed at that, he wanted Idane to let loose a little but atleast it was progress.

"Anything interesting happened to you?" Sayomi chirped in.

"Yes in fact I ran into Naruto-san this morning Sayomi.. -chan?" Idane said.

"Aww aren't you sweet today!" A bright smile graced her features. "So what's that baka up to?"

"He recently came back from a mission, it was a success but he seemed to be in a bad mood. It had apparently not gone entirely smoothly."

"Oh that doesn't sound good, did they lose anyone?" She asked, concern for her friend evident.

"They didn't but it must have been bad because he was with B-sama's team." Idane replied.

"Don't worry we'll cheer him up when we've got time!" Kodama said.

"Yea! And we'll get every last juicy bit out from him about what happened!" Sayomi pumped her fist as her mood changed quicker than by the flick of a switch.

"What do you have in mind?" Idane asked.

"We'll head over to him after training with a bottle of sake of course!" Kodama said as if it was obvious and Idane should have known already.

Sayomi's happy spell broke as she made a grimace at the memory of the hangover she had gotten after the last time they tried to cheer him up.

"As long as it's only one bottle this time." She said.

* * *

Naruto was walking along the paths at the center of Kumogakure, the area around the Raikage tower where the peaks stood high and the drops could reach over 200 meters. They were snaking their ways up and around to the round buildings that jutted out from the rock.

Among the hidden villages it was the least populated center and most people lived on the areas on the mountain riddled with canyons and plateaus instead. He walked up a stair carved in the rock to the building which surrounded the entire peak and knocked on a blue grayish door and waited a few moments.

"Ahh Naruto-kun it's good to see you." The stern voice of Eiko greeted him.

"Thank you Eiko-obaasama, can I come in?"

"Yes my dear boy, would you like some green tea?"

"I'd like that, thank you."

He walked inside, the house was covered in rich woods and carpets which gave it a warm and inviting feeling. He allowed himself to be led into a room with a shoji door and mats covering the floor. The outer wall was bent and large windows allowed him to look out on the nearby peaks and buildings.

He sat down and shortly Eiko came with the tea which he gracefully accepted.

"Now what brings you here ne? It's good that you remembered that my door is always open to you because I can see that something is troubling you." Eiko said.

She was a perceptive woman even for a civilian he thought while contemplating what he wanted to say.

"I-.. it's hard to explain. I feel so confused. The last mission didn't go so well and I just don't know." He said while holding his cup.

"Then tell me what happened on the mission that causes this confusion."

He looked down, he was scared to tell her. He had been so accepted here in Kumogakure but was afraid that he would lose that.

"We were attacked. B-sama wasn't there. Samui-san had come to get Karui-san and I because they had found something when it happened." It was difficult for him to retell what happened. He hadn't spoken with either Samui or Karui about what had transpired and that wasn't something he was looking forward to.

"They were Kirigakure hunter nins and we didn't stand a chance. They caught us in some sort of water prison and we couldn't get out." It felt like his throat was clamming up so he took a sip of the tea.

"I saw how they lost consciousness, the air being pressed out from their bodies and.. .. I snapped."

"You used your bijuu." Eiko filled in for him.

"Hai." He said in a slightly lowered voice. "I killed two of them before B-sama came to help."

"Where they the first persons you have killed?" She asked. Naruto flinched at that. She hadn't put emphasis on the persons but even so he was reminded that it was real people not much different to himself or his comrades that he had killed. He nodded.

" Boy you are not the first nor the last person that I have taught. All shinobi must go through their first kill."

"I know that. It's not just that I killed them its how I did it. There was so much blood and I couldn't stop and I tore their throats open with my hands and.. " Eiko raised her hand to stop Naruto who was working himself towards hysteria.

"Naruto-kun that doesn't matter now. I've lived most of my life in this village and I know what's expected of a shinobi. Almost always it's a choice between the enemy or your own and no matter what it's always your own that comes first."

"But I was.." He tried to protest but was cut off by Eiko.

"Don't speak if you are not in control of yourself, I taught you better. I don't care how you killed them and your team shouldn't either. If you are afraid of the bijuu then you must control it. If you are afraid of being a monster, that you will enjoy killing, then you must find a way to deal with it."

"Even after the many decades here I still wonder how the villages can train their children to kill but not prepare them for how to deal with it properly so I will give you the same advice I always do. Make your own rules. Decide on how to act and what's acceptable as long as you don't break the village's rules. When you have to take a life you follow your rules. If you break them then you try to see why you did it and if it was something you did wrong or the rule that didn't fit."

Naruto's attention was focused on what she said. Having rules that would prevent him of becoming a monster. Not having to wonder what he was becoming, yes he could definitely see what she meant. He could go on missions and do his job while still remaining sane.

"There is one more thing. Never ever shut yourself off from those around you. You have to be able to speak to them and remember that it's to keep them alive that you kill. If you do withdraw from those that are there for you it will lead you down a dark path."

Naruto had another cup of tea and stayed for a while after they had changed the subject to something less morbid and after leaving Eiko's he felt better about himself.

* * *

As Naruto was walking home it had started raining, nothing that bothered him but it was a steady drizzle. The air was hot and humid and from the heavy air pressure it felt like thunder wasn't far away so he had hurried his steps somewhat. 'I will have to kill again and with my luck sooner rather than later.' He thought morbidly. 'There is no way getting around that. That's just how it is. But if I can become better I will not have to use the fox again. It felt too good to kill them.'

'But if there is a threat it will have to be neutralised. Maybe that's something to consider. All threats have to be eliminated. If I can take them out they can't hurt anyone.' He furrowed his brown. 'That's not helping, that only means that I have to kill, not how I'm supposed to deal with it.'

He left the walkway as the ground leveled out and instead of the deep gulleys he was walking through a densely populated canyon. He saw a redhead wearing a white bandana in front of him walking the same way.

"Hey Karui."

She turned around and saw him. "Hi Naruto how are you."

"Fine, where are you going?" He asked.

"Home, I can't stand the weather right now."

"Same here." He said as he fell in step with her as they both walked the same way. They spoke a little, it was awfully casual. Usually they would be at eachothers throats but he didn't mind it. Eiko had said that it was bad to avoid your comrades.

They could hear thunder in the distance and the rain was increasing in intensity so when they got close to where Naruto had to split of he instead invited her up.

His little apartment was the same little thing as ever but it looked more lived in to and comfortable than the first few months. He had a few plants and pictures in there and even a princess Fuji poster.

Karui saw that. "Didn't take you for a sap."

"Hey no bashing Fujikaze, comrades or not I will throw your ass out in the rain." He said in defense of his idol.

"Hey you can't do that to a lady!" Karui said indignantly

He just snorted as if to say that she wasn't a lady but he wanted his place to remain whole and he was sure that she could whip up a storm greater than Sayumi and Kodama so he decided to play nice. "You want some tea?"

"Yes, I'm freezing."

He threw her a towel before putting a pot on the stove. She sat down on his lone chair and he on his bed.

"How did you manage to break out of the water?" She asked suddenly.

"I really don't want to talk about that."

"Fine whatever but I'm really curious if you hadn't done whatever we would have drowned."

'I murdered those two.' He thought sadly.

"I was just too weak. We shouldn't been caught if I was stronger."

"Please, they were trained hunter nins who toyed with us there wasn't anything any genin could have done."

"Then I will have to get stronger. I barely know any jutsu at all." He said a little angry.

"I know, I feel the same."

"Huh?"

"If we all had been stronger maybe we wouldn't have been in that situation. It was only your clones that saved me and Samui from getting killed." She clarified.

"I never realised that." He said honestly. "But I'm going to train harder and learn some new jutsu!"

"That's good, if we can kill the enemy before they can hurt us that would be good." She smiled at him.

'Huh, kill? That's right all threats must be eliminated.' He thought but was interrupted when his door was opened.

"Naruto! I heard you were feeling down so I brought sake!" Kodama's loud voice was immediately heard.

"I knew you were a no good lazy drunk!" Karui stood up and pointed accusingly at Naruto.

As Kodama's team came inside Kodama was taken aback to find not only Naruto but someone else and didn't really hear what she had said.

"Hey I'm not drunk!" He said.

"Yet!" Sayomi smiled.

Naruto just groaned at the timing of team inconvenience and how they had burst in.

There was some "polite" discussion about how appropriate it was for young genins to indulge in the vice of drinking that went on for a few minutes but after the initial anger it turned into a little friendlier bickering. Kodama could be a little stubborn and Karui just genuinely enjoyed to argue according to Naruto.

"The rain has stopped so I'll go and leave you to your less refined friends." Karui said. "But don't let me catch you hangover when you train or the next time you are needed for a mission!"

With Karui gone Sayomi and Kodama quickly dumped themselves on either side of Naruto in his bed.

"You should really get some cushions if you are going to keep hosting these gatherings." Sayomi said. "But don't worry I'll take you out and get some nice looking ones. Teddybears or blood spatter patterns?" She grinned wickedly at him.

"Hey I'm not hosting anything here, you guys just keep inviting yourselfs." He proclaimed his position on the matter. "And no blood!"

"So teddybears are okay ne softy?" Kodama winked his eyebrows at him.

"Asshat."

"Hey don't get mad at the man who brings the sake."

"I should never have taken you out to drink. you make me worry."

"So how was it on being out on a mission camping with just to girls?" Sayomi said with an innocent smile on her face.

"Hey B was there too."

"And you wished he wasn't, right?" Kodama continued.

"You are impossible."

"Well sake makes things possible. So fill us in on what happened now!" Kodama said.

And so Naruto did, they listened attentively as he described what had happened but in contrast as to Samui and Karui he didn't leave out anything. Eiko had said that he shouldn't shut out his friends and these were the closest he had and a suggestion from her was as good as an order in his book. They took it well and as the evening progressed they all filled each other in on what they all had done as they chatted and joked almost until midnight.

* * *

"Good that you came here Eiko I want you to speak with your moronic brother than I want ships!"

"Where are you manners Raikage-sama you were thought better." The old woman admonished A.

"Dammit Eiko-dono I don't have time for this!" The man raged.

"Then you will make time, you are the Kage here act like one." She didn't raise her voice but spke in a sharp clear voice that clearly communicated that she wouldn't take anything less than the pleasantries that she required.

"Still the same old woman."

"Still the young hothead." She countered.

"Can you please at least speak to your brother?" Having the Raikage ask pleasantly was something few people had known but Eiko no Kimi was one whom was extended such courtesy.

"I'll send him a letter and explain the position yes but I highly doubt that he will want another war.

"No matter if it's a war I will make sure the Mizukage pays one way or another with or without the Daimyo's backing." He stated firmly.

"Remember what I always told you, whenever you face a decision which shouldn't be taken lightly wait until you are calm and can view it objectively. But that wasn't why I came." She stated.

A grit his teeth no matter how polite he was with Eiko she still managed to rub him the wrong way somehow.

"Then what business makes you grace my office."

"Naruto-kun."

"What did the boy do now? So far you haven't complained about him."

"I have no complaints about him, unlike others I know he remembers his lessons well. He came to seek me out yesterday and brought forth what was troubling him and I just wish to bring this to your knowledge."

"Then what got to the boy?" He had been pleased with the reports on the boy so far, nothing that indicated that he had made the wrong decision with regards to him had been presented and he had made good progress as a ninja.

"He was greatly disturbed by the fact that he had to take two lives during the last mission. He had trouble dealing with the way he apparently had brutalized his enemy as well as being in a situation where he had to go to such lengths to keep his teammates alive."

He took a moment to think about what she had told him. Compared to most genin he was fairly advanced and from where he had started he had made great strides but apparently that wasn't enough for the boy.

"Very well, I will make sure to ease his concerns. His training will be stepped up as a shinobi as well as a jinchuuriki."

Eiko nodded at that, apparently satisfied.

"That's what I feel would do him best, just make sure he isn't separated from those he has bonded with in the village. I will send that letter. Good day raikage-sama."

That woman was a true force to be reckoned with. The daimyos sister with a solid education and she had lived most of her life in this very village and know far more about being a shinobi than most chunins. She was damned perceptive and very valuable to their forces for her advice, teachings and analysis and one of the best therapists they had despite no formal education on the subject.

* * *

Kakashi kept a steady pace during the journey on which he led his team. Behind him in a loose formation where his own team as well as team 8 and 10 and along he had an extra 4 tokubetsu and jonin. The mission was a fairly standard one for genins during wartime and since they were in a semi state of war with otogakure they would guard supply lines behind their own border. He had been on many such assignments during the third shinobi war with Minato and his now dead teammates. It was good experience for genins with only moderate risk, especially since they weren't at war with any major nations at the moment.

What the genins didn't know was that they had a secondary mission. He had been ordered to bring Sasuke on this mission on hope that dangling him would draw out orochimaru or some of his more valuable assets. Combat teams in the area had been alerted so they had extra backup if they needed or too cut of any possible enemy retreat and Jiraya-sama would join them in the area but keep hidden to lend assistance if his ex teammate came himself. It was a win situation as long as it didn't backfire. If they failed to draw anything out they would still do a valuable job with keeping the rear clear.

* * *

Naruto had been feeling better with himself the last three weeks. While killing still didn't feel very well and his actions still creeping to the forefront of his mind every once in a while he was starting to accept them. What had done the biggest difference was that he felt that he had a goal to work towards. He had to be strong enough to take out the threats to himself, his comrades and Kumogakure as a whole before they could do harm so he had to train and that kept him pushing himself.

He had run into J-sensei which had promised to help him with developing tactics and see what jutsu he could learn that would fit in to his style of combat and if he was satisfied with Naruto's progress maybe even start elemental training. He had also been reminded of what awaited him if he was made chunin which helped spur him on. J couldn't dedicate too much time but getting directions and help with what he should do on his own was a great help and he would be getting a more dedicated tutor when one was available to him.

He had said to J that he had been thinking about learning sealing as Fumio-sensei had said that he was willing to help him but J had warned that it was a difficult art that was had to learn, harder to become adept at and still harder to apply in direct combat situations but that it still carried a great amount of support functions that he could learn. This was something that he had been recommended to religate to when he was unable study if he wanted when he wasn't able to do physical or other training and just look at when there was extra time to help build a foundation to future studies.

He had yet to visit Fumio again but was determined to atleast try and learn some, if not only to learn more about his heritage.

The most difficult training he had recently had to step up was with Yugito-san. She was in charge of training him in how to use his bijuu. At the moment it was by far the most demanding training he had started but it was a necessity. He didn't really like it but he had to in order to prevent the bloodlust from overtaking him and he was obligated to do everything he could in order to protect those around him.

They had just had not done much so far as he needed a few days recovery to be able to get the most from it. She had laid out how she was planning on training him and he didn't like it but he persevered. It was fairly straight forward mostly just special conditioning for jinchuuriki where at first he would learn how to quickly bring forth the chakra cloak in the right quantity until he could do it at will and from there they would step up the amount to help his body adapt as well train him to control it. It wouldn't help him gain access to the full power by itself but a stepping stone for the more advanced training that B would put him through some time in the future.

The biggest plus side was that he got to learn Yugito better, she was friendly and even pleasant to be with even if a little distant. She tended to keep a lot of people at arms length with slightly stiff pleasantries but she was fiercely loyal and could understand his own determination and was therefore willing to help with giving pointers on his other training. It was also a great relief to talk to her about his fears of using Kyuubi's powers as she herself understood them, to him she was becoming something of an older sister.

* * *

It's a little difficult to write Naruto being in Kumogakure as you have so few cannon characters to use and they are not so fleshed out as Konoha's but it gives me a lot of room to experiment and create my something of my own. One of the easiest characters to understand but not so easy to write is Samui. She easily becomes flat and just written as rehashing the same lines with things being cool or not but the way I picture her especially now that she is younger than when she is introduced in cannon is that she wishes to be seen as mature. Things she find interesting or cool are actions that can be perceived as mature or adult behavior. So where Karui gets angry when a hangover Naruto shows up she instead sees him acting or at least doing something that adults do.

**Please review and let me know what's you like and dislike and what I can do better!**


	8. Chapter 8

Took a lot longer than I had expected and wanted it too but finally got it done. A little longer at 6600 words and the second longest chapter to date.

* * *

Naruto was walking beside Samui happily snacking on some chips he had bought. It was rare getting time to spend with his friends because everyone, including him. was always busy. If not training there was always missions which could take people out of the village for weeks at a time so those times when down time overlapped was rare.

"How is your training going Naruto-kun?" Samui asked him.

"It's going great mostly." He said between mouthfulls of chips.

"Mostly?"

"Yea, mostly. I got to to train on some jutsu with Darui but then we started working with my shadow clone and he decided that C would be better." The last words was said with an irritated grumbling.

"What's wrong with C? He's one of our most well respected shinobi." From her viewpoint that wasn't something to complain about. Being able to train with so many of Kumo's top shinobi was a true privilege.

"It's not for being funny I can tell you that. He's so serious. Darui is more laid back and can take a joke." He clarified.

"So you are just lazy?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"What no!? I work harder than anyone dattebayo!" A wronged Naruto screamed, he did take great pride in his work ethic after all.

"But why did he ditch you then?"

"It's because of how the shadow clones work. They are generally great for recon or spying because when they dispel I get the memories. So Darui came up with this idea that if I could use them to train it would make things a lot easier." Naruto explained.

"That's cool, so you are cheating?" She smirked at him.

"Ninja, everything that gives you an advantage is fair game." He crossed his arms and tried to strike a form pose but it was ruined by him almost crushing his chips instead.

Samui just giggled at his antics, he was funny that way. Always bouncing between extremes.

"Uhm, since they got all my knowledge to they are really useful since they can instantly execute any plan I've formed when I create them." He said trying to steer back the conversation.

She tapped her finger on her lips mimicking his over the top behavior.

"So they really are fully functional copies of you? You won't have to do another chore for the rest of your life."

Naruto stopped in his step, looking completely frozen. The opportunities, why didn't he think of that. "Whoa I can just have a clone get me some ramen without even leaving bed!" He said.

"Yes you could probably do that. Unless they get destroyed that is, then you would loose your food."

"Bah, that's just the sort of thing C would said. When he took over he said that he wanted to do things in a structured and order fasion. Just a lot of tests really to figure out the effectiveness of training with them and what they can and cannot do."

"Did you find out their limits?"

"Yea, at least there was that. Each clone will exist as long as they got chakra. I got a lot as you know and can just create how many as I want or clones that can last for days. But even a low powered clone can last for an hour or two but if they do any techniques they won't last as long." He explained, despite earlier protests to C's methods he could at least acknowledge results.

"Also I get some of their chakra back when they dispel. Around half of what I initially used to create them so as long as I got chakra and my coils don't get fatigued I can just keep spamming them."

"The only problem would be dealing with large amounts of information, he had me studying ten different scrolls and I could barely remember anything. Was something about cognitive functions and memory recollection blala, the point is it's not completely fool proof." He said a little saddened by the fact that there was a limit to the clones usefulness

"That's good. Wouldn't want you to be all knowing just yet. You would be a total ass and that's not cool." She said in a matter of factly way.

"Hey I resent that!"

"I have to meet my team soon but why don't we head over to our training ground, you promised me a kenjutsu spar and we could go for a few rounds." She said.

"Sure."

"Good then you can finally meet Omoi."

"Karui's boyfriend?"

"Don't let her hear you say that. Anyway he's a nice guy, just wait until Karui is there before you tell you are from Konoha or a Jinchuuriki." She warned him.

""Why's that?"

"Oh you'll see."

Wondering what she meant they went to get Naruto's katana so they could have a match.

* * *

It was a little while later that Naruto stood with his hands on his knees and his katana on the ground and was panting. It seemed as it wasn't just him that had been training hard after their near fatal mission.

She had controlled the spar but he hadn't made it easy for her, if he had used all of his tricks then he most likely would have won. But still she would have also done the same so it wasn't for certain.

"Hey Samui who's that?" It was a newcomer, a boy their age. Dark skinned and white short hair.

Her only response was to raise a hand in greeting as she was still catching her breath.

"Are you okay Samui? Did you guys fight? Is he your boyfriend and you just broke up, maan you will be a real downer today and then.."

"Omoi just shut up for a second." Still breathing heavy Naruto took in the boy, he had heard about his slightly eccentric way to quickly come up with weird semi plausible scenarios but that was just over the top quick.

"Okay." He approached them slowly eying Naruto warily.

When Naruto had his breath back he said. "Hey I'm Naruto heard about you. Nice to finally meet you Omoi."

Some of the tension in Omoi released. "Aha okay, I've heard about you too. So what were you doing?"

"Just keeping a promise, that's all."

"Okay well that's good then." Still a little suspicious of the blond and Samui, as if they were both about to suddenly attack each other,.

"Hey Samui you cheated. We said just kenjutsu." Naruto said. Referring to the shock to his arm he had received when she had landed a palm on his shoulder. He was still feeling a little twitchy.

"Ninja." was all she said.

"Naruto! what are you doing here?" Karui yelled as she came from the same direction where Omoi just had come from.

"Just sparring with Samui-chan and meeting Omoi-san." He yelled back as she was still some distance away.

"Disaster waiting to happen." Samui mumbled but the boys didn't pick it up.

"Naruto how come you are our age yet I haven't seen you before?" Omoi inquired.

"Well I have only been here for a about half a year now." Came the honest answer.

"Really? What did you do before then? Most of us if not everyone is born here."

"Training in the academy and boy I sucked at it." Naruto laughed, comparing his current state with that just a little over a half year ago he could only conclude that he had been in a sorry state. If he had remained like that he would have most likely died allread. Shuddering at that thought he let it go and focused as Omoi quickly asked another question.

"Huh, but where did you get trained then? Shimogakure?" Omoi became a little nervous as his mind started to paint several different reasons for why Naruto was here, most of them quite gruesome and or disastrous.

"No, I was trained in Konoha."

"Konoha!? Man are you a missing nin, this is so bad. What if they found out you are here and send hunter nins after you and then we will all have to fight them because your a comrade and we are just four genins and then we will get hurt or killed maybe they take you back and then Raikage-sama gets mad and it starts a war."

He was finally shut up when an angry Karui punched him in his cheek.

"Omoi what have I told you about ranting!" She yelled at the poor boy.

"Take it easy Karui, I'm just preparing for the worst."

"The worst you gonna get is a foot up your ass that's what!"

"But what if you hurt me and never can sit again, then I always have to stand and I wilöl become grumpy and…"

"Omoi shut up." Samui said to avoid further long winded and detailed possible events, also to prevent bodily harm towards her make teammate.

"Yo my students!" Came the flowing voice of B.

"B-sensei!" They all said in unision.

"Yo and Mr Nine, how are you today, are you astray or just putting your tails on display?"

"Sup B!" Naruto answered.

"Mr Nine?"

"He is a Jinchuuriki." Samui said but Karui tried to stop her. "No Samui don't!"

"Jinchuuriki, oboy this day is turning to hell in a handbasket. Now they really want to get him back and maybe.."

He was pounced by Karui and forced to the ground, she held his collar and started angrily at him.

"Here to train in my domain yo?"

"No I was just sparring with Samui and meeting Omoi but I should get going. Later guys! B!"

Naruto said.

"Later!" Samui said while Karui was busily explaining to Omoi exactly what she thought about his escapades and he was too preoccupied to notice Naruto leaving.

* * *

Soon after Naruto had left B's team a ninja touched down next to him as he was walking. "Naruto-san the Raikage requires your presence."

"Hai. I'll be there shortly."

It didn't take him more than a few minutes to sprint through the village, a few stomach curling jumps over the deep drops and he reached the nerve center of the village.

Outside the Raikages office at a desk sat his assistant Mabui whom Naruto hollered at to get her attention.

"Oi, I'm here to see the Raikage."

"Ah yes Naruto san, he's waiting please hurry before he gets angry and destroys something."

Naruto shivered at that. A was an impressive man famous for his temperament and you didn't live in Kumogakure without hearing a couple of stories about when he got mad at someone.

He opened the door, not surprised to his Kage chugging down a large bottle of gainer and throwing it in the trash.

"Raikage-sama." He said and bowed.

"Good you are finally here. You did great on your last mission Naruto-kun."

"Thank you sir."

"Darui also gave you a lot of praise about your training and every report I've had on you is exemplary."

"That's good to hear I think."

"You damn right that's good." He roared, his harsh voice making it hard to discern if he was happy, angry or just neutral. Another piece of that which gave him his reputation.

"I just wish he didn't have to hand me over to C."

"Well you seem to be similar to myself, the type that learns by doing but don't underestimate C's way of going around things he is one of my most trusted men."

"I won't sir."

"Now I brought you here because of missions you will go on in the future. It's inevitable that your presence here will be known sooner or later but we must do everything we can to delay that. We have our fair share of blondes but those markings on your cheeks are a dead give away together with your name. Wear a mask or get a tattoo for your face."

Naruto blanched at that. He didn't want to tattoo his face. It was quite common with tattoos here in Kumogakure, especially of you belonged to any of the multitude of special guild like groups Kumo tended to rely on instead of a single black ops force but having his face marked, no. A mask was definitely the primary choice.

"Also you will be given a name."

"But I've already got a name sir."

"Yes and that's why we will change that so that it's more difficult to identify you."

He felt a little miffed about that. He liked his name. Maelstrom was awesome and even if you went with the more derogatory fish-cake it made it up for being a topping in the most awesome of dishes, ramen. He didn't voice his protests because no one likes a whiner, especially not the Raikage.

"What will I be called then?"

"N."

"N?"

"Yes, now don't make me repeat myself boy."

"Can't I get something cooler like X or Z?

"No, N will make it easier for you to adapt to and when you master the kyuubi it will get extra meaning. You may still use Naruto with your friends but soon you will find out that being named here is a great honor. N."

"I understand and accept raikage-sama."

"Good, you are dismissed."

"Hai, later old man!"

And with that he ran for his life, he sped past Mabui outside the office as a large bench weight smashed through the door and wall grinning. He was a ninja, cheap shots was his job after all and being robbed of his name that little jab was the least he could do to get back at the Raikage.

A displeased Mabui walked over the now broken door inside the office. "Was it necessary to destroy the door and frame?"

"He called me old. That snot nosed brat."

"Compared to him you are old sir."

"I'm this villages leader and shouldn't be told that I'm old!"

"Obviously he must have been displeased with you what were you discussing."

"I named him."

"Aha, so he mustn't been entirely too pleased about that then."

"It's an honor and a necessity."

"For us but he hasn't grown up here, but why was it necessary?"

"Not only will it help in hiding his identity a little longer but also it will help cement his loyalty. Once he has accepted his new name and identifies with it he will truly feel like a Kumogakure shinobi."

"I see, have you made sure all the documents needed have been updated then?"

"No I haven't."

"Well I will bring them to you shortly, It may take some time to get them all and then you will have to go through them so make sure you clear out a few hours later."

And with that she left him, really she could do it or someone else and then just have him sign off on it but if he wanted to destroy his office and push extra work on her the least she could do was to give back in kind.

She left a gaping and fuming kage behind her as she went to get some office worker to do her dirty work. This was perfect, it would take several hours but she wouldn't have to do it but A didn't have to know that. She could go and get herself a relaxing pedicure and then come back and finish up the day. Aha excuses are great.

* * *

It was early in the morning when Naruto was heading towards a small building near one of the exits that was used for meeting up for missions. Just fifty meters from the gate and a little to the side the small round two story building stood out with it's blue roof. Incidentally it was nicknamed the blue hut because of it's shape.

The inside was spacious, a spiral staircase led up to the second floor which was almost identical with the lower. There was seats and tables scattered around to facilitate multiple teams to rest and or wait at the same time.

At the moment there was only four people inside. "Team Zane?" He asked.

"Yes, are you our last member.?" Naruto took in the looks of the one answering. A female jonin wearing a white sleeveless hoodie that left her midriff open. She was quite muscular, with well defined abs and muscular arms. Her skin tone was the same as Karui and her short black hair covered half her face but she wore a friendly smile.

"N reporting for escort assignment." He said. The younger teens that had been lounging got up and he also took them in.

"This is my team. Isumo and Junko who are siblings." She said, not even bothering specifying who she was talking about as it was quite obvious when you saw them. They both had the same messy brown reddish hair only the girl had a little longer and they wore similar red wrappings around their arms and shins.

"And this is Tomomi." Unlike her teammates this girl wore black clothes with the usual white sash. She had spectacular long hair cut short in front of hair in a straight line covering half her hitai-ate.

"Lets not waste any time. You may address me Rina-san or Zane-san, whatever floats your boat. You were briefed?" She said to Naruto. He was relieved to find that she seemed to be quite brash and not too stiff, hopefully this would be a smooth mission.

"Hai. We are to head south to Nakano residence to pick up Kurohana and provide escort as she travels. Exact route or planned visits was not specified except the general area. which is the provinces nearby meaning travel between locations is not expected to be more than two days at a time except for a visit to some family in the land of Hot Springs. I was added to your team as a precaution because of the reason unrest in the nearby land of Rice."

"Very good, seems you got it all. Saves me the time to bring you up to speed." Sh answered in a friendly tone but Tomomi snorted.

* * *

It was almost afternoon when they neared their location. They had covered a lot of ground and had they been traveling at civilian speeds they would have to travel for almost three days despite the good roads.

It hadn't taken more than one hour at their breath taking speed to leave the mountains where Kumogakure lay hidden and entered the highlands where fertile valleys lay, making up some of the more populated and prosperous provinces of the land of lightning.

There hadn't been much time to converse during the traveling but he had learned that he liked the team leader Rina the best. The two siblings just seemed to be generally reserved. If it was to him personally or just the way they were he couldn't say just yet but there was a slight hint of hostility.

With Tomomi it was more open. She didn't seem to like him but at least it didn't feel like just him as she was similar with her teammates, just a little more toned down. Most likely from prolonged interactions with them but she really seemed to have a chip on her shoulder.

Rina slowed down the tempo a bit so she could speak with Naruto. "Do you have any experience in dealing with nobility?"

"Yes, I've taken lessons with Eiko no kimi."

"That's good then you are with me on this." She spoke up to the rest of her team. "You three will make sure the perimeter is safe as well as for patrols."

"Why do we have to do that?" Tomomi said. "What about him."

"N will be with me taking shifts guarding Kurohana."

"Why not us?"

"Because I know you three and he got the necessary experience for it."

Tomomi wasn't happy with that but she let it drop.

It was a few hours later with the sun peeking lower that they reached their destination, a large estate made up of several buildings. They were greeted by a servant which showed them their quarters telling them that Kurohana would receive them tomorrow and that they should be prepared to move out at once."

They were awoken early in the morning by a trio of servants carrying breakfast, one up of working with nobles were the occasional treat as the breakfast was something truly out of the ordinary which they enjoyed they had finished eating they geared up in silence and walked outside. There was a courtyard made up of three houses in the shape of a large U where they had stayed in one of the smaller buildings to the side. The main building in front of the side that was open was much larger and behind i the rest of the estate spread out.

They didn't have to wait long, with the sun barely over the the houses when the doors to the building slid open. It was a young dark skinned woman not much taller than Naruto with long violet hair and violet eyes that came out. She scanned them and nodded in approval.

"I see you are ready, I'm Nakano Kuruhana and I wish to set out at once."

Rina nd Naruto bowed to her and the rest followed quickly. "I'm Rina and this is my team, supplemented with N here to escort you on your travel."

"That's good, let us move out."

Once she came down from the wooden terrace and joined them Naruto got a better look of her, she wore sturdy yet finely cut clothes made for travel and had a large pack on her back.

"If I may inquire Nakano-sama but will you travel alone?"

"You may and it's correct, I wish to travel quickly and not get set back by having a larger party with me and I'm certain that all my needs will be taken cared of at our destinations."

"Hai, understood. Would you like me to carry your pack for you?"

"No, I'll carry it myself. I'm used to traveling like this and it won't slow us down."

* * *

The traveling had gone smoothly. Eiko's training surely did come in handy as she seemed pleased with his demeanor and ability to keep up a civil conversation as she put it. She had a slight condescending tone but was still respectful to them and every one and then she would ask questions about the shinobi. Mostly directed to Naruto.

They were able to travel a lot quicker than they had anticipated they would with a civilian and didn't have to spend more than a night or max two camping between their destinations. They had visited some other people of the nobility and once even came in contact with another team hired by one of those they visited. She had also stopped by several important business contacts with the Nakano family.

Nobility did carry a lot of power and also a lot of wealth with it but during the last decades larger businesses had grown in influence, mostly by being able to utilise the political turmoils of the last great wars which was why these meetings were so important for the family to secure their financial power. Nobility without economical often lost most of their political clout so it was important for them to stay updated with the goings in their province but also neighbors.

They were at their last destination when Kurohana had approached Rina about extending the mission to a relative that lived in the Land of Hot Springs which she accepted. They just had to make a slight detour to a nearby outpost to inform their village of the change in mission parameters but it was usually just a formality when it came to nobility as it was good business for them to keep them happy.

Traversing the land of Frost was easy this time of year as the mountains weren't snow covered so you could just cut straight through them but during the winter you would have to travel closer to the coast through the lower lands covered by forest. Once past the mountains they traveled through the forested hinterlands before skirting within a few miles of Shimogakure. This wasn't any trouble as Kumogakure had good relations with the much smaller village and avoided troubling them and in return they were granted free access to the rest of the continent.

"Rina-san we are awfully close to the borders of Rice and Fire." Naruto said.

"Hai but don't worry reports indicate that most of the fighting is taking place in the more western and central parts and also we are not involved in this conflict."

* * *

Sasuke wasn't a happy panda on his patrol, he had though being closer to the border would result in fights but so far there hadn't been any opponents for him to test himself against. It grated on his nerves being on a long term mission without the ability to either improve or test himself.

"I should be with Kakashi fighting not here going on walks through the forest." He said, or growled depending on how you interpreted it.

"You are only a genin, it's illogical to assume that he would take you to the frontlines with him." Shino said.

"I won't get stronger here."

"No but you survive. You won't get stronger if you are dead. If you want more difficult missions then you should become a chunin and to do that either pass the exams or gain enough experience to be considered for promotion." Their squad leader Aoba said.

"How bothersome, I wish I didn't had to do those exams and could just have stayed out here until I became one." Shikamaru said.

"But this isn't helping in anyway!" Sasuke once again whined.

"In a straight up fight you would probably defeat Shikamaru but he is chunin. You need to work on your mentality. If you keep your current attitude it won't be long until you get reported for insubordination. Now shut up and do your job." Auba shushed the team.

It wasn't long after that when they were interrupted by a bright red light that shot up in to the sky. "Looks like you may get your wish Sasuke-kun we have friendlies requesting backup." Aoba said.

"You will assist in evacuate any wounded, I don't want you to get involved in any fighting." He continued.

"Understood." Shino said.

"Hai." Shikamaru said and then mumbling. "Bothersome."

Not responding was Sasuke which earned him a stern face. "Do you understand your orders Uchiha?"

"Hai hai." He growled back.

"Good then lets move out."

* * *

Naruto was getting nervous, something didn't feel right. It might just be his mind playing a trick on him due to still being a little tense from his encounter with Kiti but they were thought to not dismiss their suspicions. Rina told him that it was nothing but that was primarily to make sure their client kept calm, he could see the signs that his leader expected some sort of problem.

They had just crossed a small stream when a team of black clad and masked ninja landed in front of them. Their attire indicated a black ops team but they had no visible markings or anything special that linked them to Kumogakure but they looked ragged as if they had just came out of a fight and had a few scratches.

"Turn around and leave as quickly as possible the fighting has spilled over in to this region and Konoha forces are on the prowl."

"My team has an escort mission and we do not intend to fail but thank you for your warning but Kumogakure is not involved in this conflict."

"Not officially Rina-chan." The leader said while quickly flashing a tattoo on his forearm by pulling up his arm a little.

"Oh I see." She said while grinning a little, obviously knowing what the tattoo ment and knowing the masked ninja.

"Sensei, I feel several chakra signatures moving here quickly, it won't be long until they are here." Tomomi said.

"Leave quickly so as to not associate with this fight." The black ops leader said.

"No, I won't leave comrades alone. Team, escort Kuruhana back to the last town. Continue south and circle around with her to her destination."

"It's too late, they just took out my clones. Anbu-san do you have a spare mask?" Naruto said.

"Hai but you don't need it. All of you go!"

"We don't have time, it's already too late but it's important that they don't find my identity."

"And why should they bother with a genin?" He asked as his team prepared for combat again."

"Because I'm originally their jinchuuriki." Naruto bit out, feeling stressed out because of the situation.

There was a short silence at that before the leader threw Naruto a blank mask which he quickly donned after removing his hitai-ate.

Rina threw her hitai-ate to Junko. "Go quickly! That's an order!" Her team quickly sprinted away as Naruto swept up Kurohana in his arm and took of. "Sorry but we are in a hurry."

The young noblewoman didn't protest, either she was just too stunned or she just comprehended the severity of the situation. It was none too soon as they had barely gotten out of sight before several ninja touched down.

* * *

"Stay back and don't get involved unless someone gets injured!" Aoba order as he was brandishing a Kunai. They came down in behind Radio and Kotetsu as well as three Anbu operatives.

Facing them were four people, three men that seemed to be molded from the same mold and a strong looking woman.

The young genin were awed how quickly and brutal the start of the fight came. The teams from Konoha barely waited for the last to arrive before they attacked ferociously. Aiming to kill quickly and efficiently.

Sasuke was watching with his sharingan as the fighting erupted and saw the leaving genins before they had made it out of sight and promptly ignored his orders and took off after them.

"Idiot, come back!" Shikamaru shouted after him but either he didn't hear him or he just didn't care. "Come Shino we have to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"I believe that's too late, why? Because he has already defied order."

"Bothersome." Shikamaru drawled.

They took after in the same direction as Sasuke had, skirting around the fight and then following after their runaway comrade..

"Can you find him?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yes, he is not far. Both he and those he seemed to have followed have stopped." The aburame informed. They touched down on either side of Sasuke and found themselves staring down four Kumogakure shinobi as well as a civilian.

"Sasuke we had orders to stay put." Shikamaru hissed.

"Hmf."

"Konoha shinobi why are you following us?" Naruto asked, he did his best to sound imposing and confident despite the situation.

"Look we just came to get out wayward teammate. We are not looking for a fight." Shikamaru tried to diffuse the situation.

It didn't seem to work as the boy and the girl which looked a like looked similar to each other displayed a mixture of anger and irritation while the blond girl just looked raging mad.

While the one with the mask sounded almost indifferent. Sadly for Shikamaru the first person after him to speak was Sasuke.

"It's obvious that Kumogakure are working with those black ops agent that attacked our shinobi since you wear the same mask I can't allow you to leave." He said in a condescending tone.

"Dammit Sasuke we are outnumbered and already breaking orders, lets leave." Shikamaru tried again to coax Sasuke to follow their orders.

"No I want to fight them." Sasuke said as his eyes never left the masked shinobi in front of him.

"Listen to your more sensible teammate, we don't want any trouble." Naruto said.

"Too late for that scum!" Sasuke said and charged, quicker than Sasukes shadow could move to stop him.

"Troublesome bastard!"

"Junko take Kurohana to safety! Tomomi you take the guy with the glasses, Isumo you take mr sensible, avoid his shadows!" Naruto shouted as he deflected Sasuke's punch.

"Who made you leader!?" Tomomi growled as she drew her sword yet still charging her assigned target.

Sasuke was upon Naruto throwing kicks and punches which he did he best to counter. He had no trouble avoiding damage but neither could he do anything himself. Sasuke was too quick to give him room to draw his sword or do any hand seals.

The battle proved to be quiet even during it's opening moments as Tomomi seemed to be able to discern the real Shino from his clones yet with their usage he was able to keep the sword wielding Kunoichi away from harming him.

It was a similar stand still with Shikamaru and Isumo, the later heeding Naruto's warning and did his best to stay at range from the shadow user and slowly drawing him away from the battle. This posed some trouble for Shikamaru as he had hoped to get them by surprise but as it was he was too far from Shino to be able to reach his opponent and he would risk getting Sasuke caught if he tried to aid him and even if he caught both Sasuke and Naruto he would have a hard time to counter Isumo.

It was when Sasuke separated from Naruto that he made his move, he sprinted closer to the other two fights prompting Izumo to follow him when he stopped and put his hands together. Quickly shadows extended in several directions. While he couldn't really target multiple targets this way with any accuracy he could make sure he caught everyone instead.

Just as quickly as the battle had started it came to a stop, a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead as he felt the strain of using his family technique this way. Now that everyone was caught he retracted the extra unnecessary shadows and just held five strands.

"Ok, now can we speak a little please."

"Shikamaru, release me so I can finish this fight!" Sasuke growled.

"No, we don't need to worsen this conflict as it is."

"And that is why he's a chunin while you is not Uchiha!" A new appearance said. Naruto felt a chill travel down his spine at the arrival of an older Konoha shinobi with glasses, things were going from worse to worst and he had to do something. During the few seconds the new arrival traded words with Shikamaru he gathered a large amount of chakra in his body and quickly pushed it down towards his feet where the shadow was connected to him and jumped backwards.

He immediately made a sign and shouted out. "Kage bunshin no jutsu." Everyone was released from the hold of the shadows as the massive amount of chakra had forcefully released the technique. Everyone separated quickly to their side.

"Guys go follow Junko, I'll hold them off!" Naruto ordered.

"What about you and sensei?" Tomomi asked, the weight of the situation had replaced her anger with concern instead.

"Don't worry about me and I'm sure she can handle herself, just go!" He said as, not giving her time to respond as both he and his clones charged.

The Konoha genins was stunned by the onslaught of clones but not the tokubetsu jounin and he started to burn away a swath of clones before Naruto could counter and reduce a week water jutsu he knew.

He jumped back from the flames as the everyones vision was being impaired by smoke and steam.

He was outmatched by the tokubetsu jounin but if he could distract him he might be able to force them to retreat. Forming a plan he created even more clones, some to keep the primary threat occupied and some to circle and attack the genins.

It worked wonderfully, even for someone so much more skilled than him like the older Konoha ninja it was difficult to keep track on so many targets at once and the genins were surprised by a sudden onslaught of water projectiles and clones.

At first the genin tried to fight back, especially Sasuke was pleased to be engaging someone in battle, but soon Shikamaru called out and Aoba noticed their predicament and disengaged the clones he was fighting.

Naruto pulled back most of the clones as those fighting the genins soon was dispatched and was relieved when the enemy didn't engage but took to the trees instead.

He dispelled most of his clones but kept a few to keep watch around him to make sure he wouldn't be ambushed. He was about to send a few to check on the other team when they came in to view.

Rina was clutching a bleeding arm but otherwise unharmed and asked him. "Where is my team?"

"They are still escorting Kurohana. We were attacked by a trio of genins and I ordered Izumo to take charge of her. When they were joined by a tokubetsu I order the others to follow her and the Konoha team disengaged just a few minutes ago." He answered.

Rina hunched down clearly quite exhausted. The other two remaining ninja sported their share of wounds and set down the bodies of their fallen comrades, one being the apparent leader from earlier, and then tended to their own wounds.

"How did it go?" Naruto asked as he removed the mask, it was uncomfortable to wear and felt good. He didn't like feeling like an anonymous robot.

"Better than worse case, worse than the best case." Rina grunted out as she was bandaging her arm.

Naruto assisted them the best he could, it wasn't something he had a lot of knowledge in but at least he could wrap some bandages and apply disinfectant salve and burn ointment where it was needed.

"Lets just catch up with my team, we can rest then and you can return and report. We can finish our mission." Rina said as they were done with first aid.

They all just nodded and took off as quickly as possibly not wanting to linger in the area any longer should the enemy came back.

* * *

After everything that had happened Kurohana had decided that they wouldn't continue and try to visit her relatives so close to the border and that it was best to round off the journey and return home. She was apparently a little shaken from the incident and so they escorted her home. The team was relieved because it had been rough on them and it would be good to go home and rest. It would also be good to leave their report on what had transpired as soon as possible and get away from the region as there was a high risk for increased tensions.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed it, the second part was the hardest for me to write and I find it difficult to write good fights. As I have mentioned before I don't like drawn out battles but I don't want them to feel rushed but I think that comes a lot from this just being another short encounter. Soon the story will move on towards larger assignments as well as series of encounters. I think I have touched all aspects of Naruto's training and most of his development will be showcased in a more flowing manner from him using it. I hope I can avoid having it come of as ass pulls.

**Reviews and critique is always appreciated. Let me know what you think, the more detail the better!**


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